SPM Traps
This article had both good and bad parts. The concept of deploying SPM traps to catch and collect sinking particulate is fascinating. In reality, I don’t know how someone could control what/where the sediment is coming from. As we discussed in class, there could be a risk of old sediment resuspended for several reasons. If the SPM could fall and build layers, I think the added temporal dimension could be very informative – what species are there, when they arrive, abundance, and so on. The more I think about it, the more it seems it would work for the Rasher Lab. Our outer coastal study sites have hard, rocky benthos. Sediment doesn’t accumulate much compared to other environments. Tides and intense wave energy allow our study sites to be well mixed, probably leading to an increase in algal detritus.
The more I think about it, the more I’d be interested in putting collectors along the outer coast of Maine! Is anyone interested?