This guidance standard describes general procedures for surveying zooplankton in standing waters for the purposes of water quality assessment and determination of ecological status.
Guidance on sampling procedures and the subsequent steps for preservation and storage are given. The sampling procedures provide estimate for species occurrence and their abundance (relative or absolute), including spatial distribution and temporal trends, for a given body of water. Calculation of biomass and production is made possible.
This method is restricted to the sampling of multicellular zooplankton that inhabit the pelagic and littoral regions of lakes, reservoirs and ponds. The sampling procedure may be also employed in slow running waters and canals.
NOTE The field methods described are suitable for the collection of open-water plankton and littoral plankton species. They are inappropriate for the collection of littoral species that primarily live on or in the surface of sediments and on the surface of aquatic plants.