Instrumentation Laboratory Project Page
Project: Grazing Wheel
Department: Zoology
Primary Investigator: Dr. Craig Williamson
Purpose of Project: The grazing wheel enables researchers in the Williamson Ecology of UV Laboratory to conduct feeding experiments using zooplankton and phytoplankton species. Zooplankton and a food source are placed in glass bottles and secured on the wheel. As the wheel rotates, food particles that might normally settle to the bottom of a flask or beaker remain suspended and available for zooplankton feeding during experiments. Past experiments using a grazing wheel have looked at the ingestion and infectivity of pathogens and clearance rates by Daphnia.
IL Comment: User brought in a prototype unit that they'd made themselves at another university. IL developed a new design that would be more reliable, sturdier, the sample wheel could be easily removed, and that would fit inside their environmental chambers.
Cost to researcher: $247.64 for two. User supplied the motors.