
%0 Journal Article
%A Logan, Murray 
%A Sanson, Gordon D. 
%T A new technique for measuring size distributions of fine ingesta/digesta particles
%J Wildlife Research
%D 2000/03/29
%V 27
%N 2
%P 191-194
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/WR99010
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/WR99010 
%X Techniques were developed to enable convenient, high-power image analysis of (ingested) food material. A constant volume of diluted gut sample was delivered to a large microscope slide before being slowly evaporated in still air to leave all particles statically on the same focal plane. Evaporation also allowed a meniscus to develop around each particle, forcing them to separate and thereby preventing overlap and aggregation of particles. Sub-samples were measured under four high-power magnifications (2050, 1290, 510 and 190) to permit precise estimates of size distributions of the very small particles. The techniques developed avoid the need for large ingesta/digesta samples, sieving, and filtering, all of which have limited previous studies. 
