Microscopic Life in Water   There are many microscopic plants
and animals that can be found in most lakes, ponds, swamps,
rivers, streams, and even puddles. These tiny life forms are
called plankton. Plant plankton is called phytoplankton, and
animal plankton is called zooplankton. In this activity you will
be examining common types of zooplankton.  A small sample of
water, such as the few drops you can collect in an eyedropper,
usually will not contain many zooplankton. But ten gallons of
water will. Since collecting and examining ten gallons of water
could take a very long time, scientists use something called a
plankton net. Plankton nets collect all the zoo-plankton from a
large amount of water and concentrates them into a smaller
amount of water. From this smaller amount of water you can
collect a lot of zooplankton using an eyedropper.   Make a
plankton net and use it to collect animals swimming in the
water. Observe these animals at varying powers of magnification.
Bend a coat hanger to make a circle