A Suitcase Trap for Sampling Macroinvertebrates in Dense Submerged Aquatic Vegetation

Obtaining quantitative estimates of macroinvertebrate abundance in littoral submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is difficult, particularly for sumberged plant species that form dense canopies. Several collecting gears have been developed and evaluated to study macroinvertebrate abundance and distribution in vegetated habitats (Kajak, 1971; Martin and Shireman, 1976; Balciunas and Minno, 1985; Brinkman and Duffy, 1996; Turner and Trexler, 1997), but many of the "cutter" type gears (Gerking, 1957) are cumbersome, and the density of littoral SAV beds makes rapid isolation of the sample difficult.