Invasive Species Transmission Lab Activity

Lab Procedure

1. Fill your small cup with regular tap water and then add your cotton ball to the water.
2. Based on your ID card determine how many lakes you are going to visit. For example if you are the “resort guest” it is likely that you will just be visiting one lake since you are staying at one place and not traveling from lake to lake…versus if you are a trophy angler, it is likely you will be traveling from lake to lake in search of the biggest fish.
3. When you “visit” a lake, you take your wet cotton ball out of your cup with the forceps and place it is the cup of whichever lake you are visiting. Squeeze the cotton ball a few times with your forceps in the lake to exchange some of the water. Then place the wet cotton ball back into your cup. Repeat this procedure for how many lakes you think your ID would visit. Six maximum visits. Record the lakes you visited on the data sheet below.
4. When you are done visiting lakes, remove your cotton ball and squeeze out the excess water with the forceps. Add ten drops of the iodine solution to your cup, swirl, and wait five minutes. Observe any color changes. Brownish indicates no invasive species, and black/purple mean invasive species present.