Hiking With A Field Microscope

Getting Out Into the Field

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Secrets of a San Francisco Deck Garden

Giant Bacteria Found in Golden Gate Park Flowers...!

Cryptobiotic Soil Unearthed in Utah

Revealing Films of Life in a Cliff-side Seep

A Hard Life Out in the Salt Flats

Vernal Pool Fantasies

Relax in California Tide Pool

Salt Marsh Mysteries

The Big Heat

Beneath the Tufas in Mono Lake

What is a Field Microscope?

Getting Out Into the Field

Little-known Techniques of Field Photomicrography

Candid Camera

If you have a field microscope, what is the next step?

Well, you need to equip it with a small, portable laboratory.After using the small impact plastic case, I got Pelican case for my field microscope. It is bright orange and holds my camera, as well as my Swift FM-31 Microscope in a “ready-to-use” configuration. As with both cases, it is fully water proof. This is important, because sometimes I "Kayak With A Field Microscope". Kayaking enables me to get to many sloughs and salt marsh areas that would be very difficult walking

Here is the case, fully loaded:

As you can see, it is a little larger than the black impact case. I still use the smaller black impact case for short hikes when I can carry my camera on my belt and I want to use a very small day pack.

If you pop open the case, this is what it looks like [with the Nikon camera missing, because I used it to take this picture]:

I have shown it next to my portable refractometer, which I use for determining the salinity of water from which I take samples.

The microscope is fully set up in the bottom pocket, with two LED lights in the lower left pocket of the case. The GPS is in the upper left, the extra lenses are in the upper right. Across the top is a pipetter [.1-ml to 1.5-ml]. The various tools are in a water-proof plastic box under spare batteries for the camera. The Nikon camera normally goes on the upper right.

Another look at the small microscope tools I carry begins with the water-proof plastic box:

Spread out, these tools include my slides:

The filters are used with the microscope. One is a blue filter and the other is a green filter I sometimes use with phase contrast microscopy.

I carry both square and round cover slips. I use the round cover slips for very quick observations, where I do not need any sealing material around the edge of the cover slip. I use the square cover slips when I want to see the specimen for longer observations, using the small plastic container of petroleum jelly for sealing. Usually I discard the cover slips rather than clean them.

I use both plain slides, and depression slides. I rarely discard slides in the field, usually wiping them off for repeated use.

The case also contains the following small tools, shown along with the refractometer mentioned earlier:

One never has enough vials for samples. On the right, I have shown a small aluminum “pill case” I carry on my key ring. I have a number of these little blue vials, usually clipped to one of the rings on my backpack. I also use larger plastic “pill cases” that I bought at the local Safeway Market.

The thermometer is a very simple electronic thermometer bought at a drugstore. It reads from well below freezing to above boiling. I always check the temperature when taking a sample, especially if the sample is taken from any extreme environment. I also carry a small pH meter [not shown], about the size of the thermometer. In any extreme environment, I always determine the pH. I find pH paper works well, also.

The hemocytometer has a number of uses as a counting chamber, enabling estimates of populations. I also used the hemocytometer grid to generate accurate “paste in” photomicrograph scale bars for different magnifications.

The “glasses keeper” is a simple clip device on a cord that I hang around my neck. Clipped to the earpiece of my glasses, it enables me to discard and retrieve my glasses quickly when observing.

The refractometer is calibrated against standard salt solutions and against seawater, enabling me to express percent salt. I rarely check freshwater ponds, but I always determine the salt content of salt marshes, tide pools, evaporative ponds, and other unusual environments.

<>Here is the case in my backpack, along with some of the books and other tools that I use:

The monocular doubles as both a small telescope [8 X 30], and with its extra lens, as a 30X magnifier. Shown below the monocular is a small 7X hand lens.

The disk-shaped thing next to the 7X hand lens is 100-ft steel tape inscribed in increments of 0.1-ft and 0.01-ft. For scientific purposes, it would be more appropriate to use a 50-meter tape, but this lovely old tape, with its leather-covered case, was made in the 1930s as a U.S. survey tape. My father used it in his work as an oil-field surveyor.

The black package next to the surveyor’s tape is a small geology hammer. I rarely carry it now, as I have found little use for it. Next to the hammer is a powerful 5-LED flashlight [not the microscope LED light, but one for camping or emergency use].

When the backpack is filled, I am ready to hike:

Now... After going through all this, I have to tell you that I only use the orange impact case for airline flights and when I go Kayaking With A Field Microscope...

Increasingly, now, I use a simple, much lighter, padded camera fanny pack. This enables me to include a tripod. I tried to avoid the extra weight of a tripod, but I have increasingly found it much easier to observe in the field when the microscope is screwed onto the tripod. This is especially true when I have other folks along who want a look.

The red padded pack is attached to the fanny pack and holds cold water and my lunch. A light rain jacket is strapped on top to the fanny pack handle.