meth_1.3 Marine Sediment Sampling for Marine Microbes Coastal Project

Contributor(s):

Citation:

AM Project ID: Legacy

Equipment:

  • Liquid nitrogen dewar
  • 8 mL Nunc Cryotube vials
  • Cryolabels
  • 250 mL glass jars
  • 60 mL specimen jars
  • Esky & ice
  • Black bag

Method:

  1. Sample sediment from a depth of 5-10 m.
  2. If you use a Van Veen grab, empty the sediment into clean tray without disturbing the surface layer. Use sterile gloves to collect 1.8 mL of surface layer sediment (top 1 cm) with a microspatula into a pre-labelled cryovial. Label vial according to the instruction given in the spreadsheet “sampling_schedule”. Microspatula should be sterilised with ethanol wipes between grabs and gloves changed between samples.
  3. If you collect while diving, use a 50 mL Flacon tubes to scoop up the top 1 cm of sediments. Transfer sediment into pre-labelled cryovial.
  4. Drop cryovial into liquid nitrogen.
  5. Homogenise remaining sediments in the tray thoroughly using gloved hands.
  6. Collect ~60 mL sediment in a plastic jar (for grain size analyses). Label jar according to the instruction given in the spreadsheet “sampling_schedule”.
  7. Collect ~150 mL sediment in a glass jar and store in black bag in esky on ice (for TOC analyses). Label jar according to the instruction given in the spreadsheet “sampling_schedule”.
  8. Cryovials to be stored in -80 °C freezer and RNA should be extracted within 1 week. Glass jars (TOC) and plastic vials (grain sizes) to be stored in -20 °C freezer and analysed within 2 weeks.