Post on 27-Dec-2015
Water Quality and
Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Diversity
Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
• Insects, worms, snails, crayfish, other arthropods
• Live in all types of water habitats
• Most have gills for absorbing oxygen
• Cannot escape pollution events
• Certain species are more or less tolerant of pollution
Biomonitoring
• Stream biomonitoring is the study of the biological organisms present in a stream.
• Based on what organisms are present, you can get an idea of what the water quality is like.– Species dependent – depends on number of
species of different sensitivities to pollution
Watershed
• land area draining into one water body
Bath Nature Preserve
Bath Creek
Lots of sunlight
Abundant plant growth
Warmer water
Mud bottom
Slow water flow
North Fork of Yellow Creek
Shaded
Cooler water
Few aquatic plants
Fast flowing water
Rocky bottom
Did you know???• Photosynthesis – happens during the day,
and only in plants
• Cellular Respiration – happens all the time, in ALL living things (including green plants!)
• In streams with lots of plants, the amount of oxygen increases during the day, but may drop very low at night. This means some organisms may not be able to survive in the river
Photosynthesis
6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight → C6H12O6 + 6O2
Carbon dioxide + water + sun → organic matter + oxygen
Cellular Respiration C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + energyGlucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + energy
Which stream would have more dissolved oxygen?
Bath Creek Yellow Creek
Which is Bath Creek?