Incomplete

Crude sampling techniques, such as grabs, can be used for deep water sediments, but are likely to bring up a lot of anoxic material and this may kill the organisms that prefer to live in aerobic environments.

Around the margins of a water body or in streams, turkey basters can be used to pick up the more flocculent material on the surface of sediments. An alternative is a long stiff tube, diameter 7-10 mm or so. The upper end of the tube is sealed with a wet thumb, the lower end allowed to rest on the sediment, and the thumb released slowly as the tube is drawn across the sediment. This will draw up liquid to the level of the water mass. The tube is resealed, withdrawn and the contained water transferred to a wide mouth jar that can be tightly sealed.