Organisms found at the Air-Water Interface (AWI) are often difficult to collect and usually show distortion upon collection and fixation by traditional methods. Furthermore, the spatial relations between the organisms and the complexity of their biofilm community is disrupted or destroyed by collection methods that involve bulk water collection, filtration, settling or rotating drums. Samples shown here were collected on the Tualatin River, Oregon, a eutrophic rural/suburban stream with welldeveloped Aquatic Surface Films (ASF or Microlayers) in quiet waters.

Here, I describe a simple method of collection for Aquatic Surface Films (Microlayers), by drawing a glass substrate slowly through the surface film, allowing both organic chemicals and small organisms to adhere to the surface of the glass. This is similar to the collection of a Langmuir-Blodgett film, and it has been proposed that chemical and biological films at the surface might allow this type of collection.