Aquatic invertebrates and Aquatic invertebrates and water quality monitoring in water quality monitoring in the Little Luckiamute River the Little Luckiamute River

Dr. Karen Haberman and the students of General Ecology, Fall 2004, 2005 and 2006

Talk outlineTalk outline

Watersheds: an overview Key stream macroinvertebrates Ecological questions Educational Goals Methods

Watershed, definedWatershed, defined A watershed is the entire network of

rivers and streams that feed into a common system. It also includes all of the surrounding land and subsurface waters.

Substances in the riverSubstances in the river

Water! Dissolved gases (examples) Inorganic material

Dissolved (examples…) Particulate (Examples…)

Organic material Dissolved (examples…) Particulate (examples…)

In which categories do “pollutants” fall? What makes something a pollutant?

What happens to these What happens to these substances?substances?

Collection, accumulation, storage Processing, transport,

distribution What happens to a leaf that drops into

the river at its headwaters?

Photo: Kevin Wolf

River continuumRiver continuum(pictures from Stroud Water Research Center)(pictures from Stroud Water Research Center)

Headwater Mid-reaches Near mouth

River continuumRiver continuum

Human impactHuman impact

Photo: US Army Corps of Engineers

Order Ephemeroptera: Order Ephemeroptera: mayfliesmayflies

Image: Xerces Society

Order Plecoptera: stonefliesOrder Plecoptera: stoneflies

Image: Xerces Society

Order Trichoptera: caddisfliesOrder Trichoptera: caddisflies

Drawing: University of Michigan

Illustration: University of Illinois, Entomology

Order Diptera: fliesOrder Diptera: flies

Chironomidae (midge) larvae

Simulidae (black fly) larvaeImages: Xerces Society

Other Insect Orders with Other Insect Orders with common aquatic common aquatic

membersmembers Order Coleoptera: beetles Order Odonata: Dragonflies and

damselflies Order Hemiptera: True bugs Order Neuroptera: Dobsonflies,

for ex.

Why study stream Why study stream macroinvertebrates?macroinvertebrates?

They are food for developing salmonids

Particular groups/species are sensitive to particular pollutants

Overall, higher diversity is correlated with healthy streams

Macroinvertebrates integrate impacts over time

Surveys are relatively inexpensive.

What is the key limitation?

Ecological questionsEcological questions

Are there significant differences in diversity/biological integrity for sites on the Little Luckiamute River upstream of Fall City compared to sites within/downstream of Falls City?

Do numbers/types of pollution-intolerant groups differ significantly among sites?

Are there correlations between the macro-invertebrate community and other measures of water quality?

Is water quality changing over time?

Educational goalsEducational goals

Teach students about watershed ecology in general, and about their own watershed in particular.

Give students experience with field work, macroinvertebrate identification and data analysis.

Provide students with the opportunity to think critically about their methods and results, and to write a scientific paper based on class data.

Methods overviewMethods overview General logistics

Surveys take place in the first 2 weeks of October. Two surveys are conducted upstream of Falls City;

two surveys are conducted downstream of Falls City.

Currently have three years of data. Survey and collection (DEQ protocols;

Xerces Society [Jeff Adams et al.]) Macroinvertebrate collection Water chemistry and associated measurements Substrate measurements (Wolman pebble count)

Sorting and identification to family in lab

Collecting Collecting macroinvertebratesmacroinvertebrates

““Picking” in the fieldPicking” in the field

Assessing substrate sizeAssessing substrate size((Wolman pebble counts)Wolman pebble counts)

Water test kitsWater test kits