How Does Different Levels of Pollution in Streams or Ponds Affect Macro Invertebrate Species?

The macroinvertebrates graph (figure 2) represents the diversity of species inhabiting the Baldwin Swamp. In 2009 the Baldwin swamp was flourishing with a large diversity of species. A total of 33 macroinvertebrates, 8 species were recorded. At this time the baldwin swamp was healthy, abundant in life and the ecosystem and food webs were unaffected by the floods. Whereas 3 weeks after the floods swept through there were little to no range of species of macroinvertebrates. There were a recorded amount of 2 Damselfly Nymph and 1 waterboat man. A theory to why these two

Lampert, Winfried; Sommer, Ulrich (2007-07-26). Limnoecology: The Ecology of Lakes and river streams. OUP Oxford.

The chemical characteristics observed and documented were pH, temperature, phosphate, nitrate, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen. Each of these chemical levels were documented and found differently. Most were found using a kit or a device. The numbers found, would tell us how polluted the stream was and how much nutrients were in the water. Each chemical has a scale for telling what a good level is and what a bad level is. If an excess amount of nutrients was found in the water, algae could be formed. When algae is formed it blocks sunlight from shining into the water, which creates dead zones. This is called eutrophication. A dead zone is an area where there is no life. This can cause major problems like population issues and more. If the algae continues to grow in the river, the whole body of water can die out, and people as well as other organisms are very dependent on the Susquehanna. While on the river though, there was an absence of algae, so sunlight is able to get through the water, which is very good.

Through our research we aimed to determine if there were any differences in water quality of both the north and south forks of Strawberry Creek. As time progresses and the environment changes it is important to keep track of how certain species are being impacted by these features, and how they cope with change. We hypothesized that due to the lack of pollution, the south fork will promote a greater diversity of macroinvertebrates. This was due to the fact that there was less runoff and trash that could be introduced to the water in the south fork, than there was in the north fork. We gathered data by analyzing the different organisms living in both forks. We collected a total of fifty vials composed of five organisms from each fork, and inspected them under microscopic view. After gathering data and identifying the different kinds of organisms living in the different forks we assessed whether the organisms from the samples could live in high or low resolution water. We also took a t-test to assess the probability of these differences being due to relevant factors or by chance. Our major findings suggest that organisms in the south fork showed a higher demand to living in cleaner water indicating that our hypothesis was correct.

Ducks Unlimited tries to revert these watersheds back to their natural levels by draining the wetlands that have extremely high levels of contaminants in the water. They then clean the soil in the habitat and find a way to decrease the extra contaminates from entering the watershed. Next they will pump healthy water back into the wetlands and install buffer strips that act like a filter that will catch the extra nutrients and silt.

Participants following OBBN protocol predominately use the travelling-kick-and-sweep method to collect macroinvertebrates in wadeable environments (Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 2007). This method consists of using a water transect including two riffles and one pool to perform the collection (Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 2007). Travelling-kick-and-sweep begins by entering the selected aquatic environment, and kicking the substrate to disrupt the sediment and potential invertebrates (Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 2007). Holding a net (500um) downstream and adjacent to the kicking area to collect or sweep up the dislodged organisms (Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 2007). Other methods include; grab samples in deep water sites, jab

On October 6th 2015, the students of Mattawan’s AP Environmental class took a trip to the local stream of the Mattawan Consolidated Schools area. The purpose of this trip was to conduct a stream study to determine the health, conditions, and pollution levels of this small body of water. A multitude of factors came into play when making a judgement on the stream’s health, and making sure to take all of these essential points was crucial to the study. A variety of thorough experiments were conducted to help make this overlying conclusion, as many students adopted many roles in the study. Students used a physical survey form, water test data sheet, and taxa recording sheet to record their findings. Teamwork was essential in making sure all of this information could be found accurately and efficiently. The combination of all of the final results allowed the class to make a judgement of the stream’s state.

The Ellicott City flood was destructive because it was on a high gradient stream. The high gradient stream made it flood faster, and had low stream discharge. Discharge is cross section of stream channel. It was also capable of moving large particles, which is an example of deposition and erosion. In the experiment, the ‘Main Street Ellicott City’ stream was more affected than the Meandering Stream. The Main Street Ellicott City stream was flooded faster, and more houses and cars were destroyed compared to the Meandering

The bottom of the stream had very little or no vegetation submerged under the water, which means that there was very little cover for fish.

The removal method of Ringed Crayfish data collection was over a sample site area of 50m2 at Pearson Creek, a stream, containing a density of 5.18 crayfish/m2. The sample site was collected in 5m in width by 10m in height with wet, rocky, and grassy conditions. The data collection incorporated five different samples of the number of crayfish removed from the stream each time (Figure 1). Sample one caught 53 Ringed Crayfish with 0 crayfish caught prior. Sample two caught 37 Ringed Crayfish with 53 crayfish caught prior. Sample three caught 42 Ringed Crayfish with 90 crayfish caught prior. Sample four caught 26 Ringed Crayfish with 132 crayfish caught prior. Sample five caught 18 Ringed Crayfish with 158 crayfish caught prior. What was caught in the previous sample was added into the total amount of crayfish caught prior. A negative linear relationship is displayed by data collected in Figure

At this station, we had to go into the creek, pick out rocks, and observe and identify the animal life living on that rock. Animals that live in the water need dissolved oxygen so they can breathe under the water. The more turbulent the water is, the more dissolved oxygen can be found in it. The amount of dissolved oxygen in a body of water will determine the type and number of macro-invertebrates that may live there. There are three groups of animals that you could find in the Conodoguinet Creek. Group one is called stream insects and crustaceans. These are pollution sensitive organisms, which means they cannot exist in polluted waters. Group one organisms are only found in good quality water. Some examples of these organisms are mayflies, gilled snails, water penny, or a stonefly(shown in figure 8.) The next group is the organisms that are somewhat pollution tolerant, which means they can be found in good or fair quality water. Crayfish, dragonflies, and clams are all examples of group two organisms (shown in figures 3, 6, and 9.) Group three organisms are pollution tolerant organisms. This means they can be found in any quality water. Some examples of group three organisms are pouch snails, pond snails, orb snails, and leeches. When I conducted this experiment, I found seven group one organisms, seven group two organisms, and five group three organisms. Macroinvertebrate is another word for organism.

Elimia virginica is a gilled snail, meaning it breaths underwater. Similar studies have found that gastropods with tracheal gills are positively correlated with dissolved oxygen concentrations in streams and rivers, while obligate air breathers are negatively correlated (Chapman et al. 2004). Dissolved oxygen levels are thus a good indicator of where certain respiratory groups may expect to be found. Low levels of dissolved oxygen may also point to deteriorating water quality (Camara et al. 2012). Though temperatures in both these microhabitats were measured to be the same, typically colder bodies of water have higher dissolved oxygen

In sections 0-1050 ft Bank Erosion, Habitat Diversity, and Embeddedness are lower than preferred. Bank Erosion is at 2.3 out of 4, this proves that the sections’ banks are getting eroded with particles dissolving into the waters. Traver Creeks’ Habitat Diversity grade is 2.5/4, specifically this states that in some areas the vegetation is less diverse and cannot absorb harmful chemicals before they get to the creek. These chemicals could harm the organisms greatly in the Creek. Embeddedness which displaces many organisms by removing their natural habitat, is at 2.7/4. This is strips many organisms of their grounds and nests as is becomes more and more scarce. The flow rate is at 2.22 ft/s this is a safe speed for the Creek it’s not too fast that organisms get flushed downstream and it’s not too slow that the organisms will suffocate. Once again, but more importantly buffers need to be set in place to stop runoff from getting into the Creek to prevent high bank erosion and

As I spent the day participating in a stream clean up I realized several things. The well-being of our streams directly impact so many aspects of our environment. Just one thing off in the delicate balance of an ecosystem can cause devastating effects that can last many years.

The patterns of biological diversity in rivers and streams among taxa vary on a spatial and temporal scale (Ligeiro et al. 2010; McGarvey and Terra 2015). Variations in stream ecology can be contributed to water quality, habitat, and history of disturbance (Lingeiro et al. 2010). Creeks and streams feed into rivers and other larger bodies of water, which provide food, water, and other commercial and recreational services as well as a home to an array of plants and animals which rely on clean water. The health of these smaller bodies of water can act as indicators for the health of the larger watershed.