A NEW QUANTITATIVE SEDIMENT CORER FOR SAMPLING INVERTEBRATES ACROSS THE MUD WATER INTERFACE AND SOIL OF SHALLOW RICE FIELD

A new corer is described which may be used in sediments of shallow sta nding waters, such as in rice fields, and which facilitates the study of the vertical distribution of the invertebrate fauna at 2 cm depth i ntervals. Its small surface area permits quantitative sampling of the sediment-dwelling fauna, particularly the chironomid larvae, around th e roots of rice-plants. Results are presented and the efficiency of th e sampling method is discussed.