What can be used to collect soil animals?

Analyze the question: The question asks which tool is used to collect soil animals (small organisms living in soil and leaf litter, such as mites, springtails, small beetles, and centipedes).

Explain the concept: Each piece of equipment is designed for a specific habitat or organism:

• Insect net (A): Used for catching flying insects such as butterflies and grasshoppers in the air or over vegetation.
• Plankton net (B): Used for collecting microscopic organisms floating in water.
• Pooter (C): A suction device for picking up small insects that are already visible, such as ants on a surface. It can be used on soil surfaces, but it does not extract animals from within the soil.
• Quadrat (D): A square frame used to mark out a sample area for estimating the population or distribution of plants and slow-moving animals. It does not collect anything.
• Tullgren funnel (E): A funnel with a lamp above it. A soil or leaf-litter sample is placed in the funnel. The heat and light dry the soil from the top, so the animals move downward away from them, fall through a mesh, and drop into a collecting jar of preservative (often alcohol).

Solution:

1. The question is about animals in the soil, so we need a device that extracts them from a soil sample.
2. The Tullgren funnel does exactly this, using the animals' tendency to avoid heat, light, and dryness.
3. The other options are for air, water, surface sampling, or area marking.

Answer: The Tullgren funnel, which is option E.

Exam tip: Match the tool to the habitat:

• Air → insect net
• Water → plankton net
• Soil → Tullgren funnel
• Small surface insects → pooter
• Sample area → quadrat