Andrea Stewart's List: Aquatics

The NRS HOST (Hands On for School Teachers) Program, a pilot program that ran in the years 2000 and 2001, improved ecological education for hundreds of students from underprivileged high schools by training teachers in the field at NRS reserves.

Life Skill: Communication
Project Skill: Identifying stream macroinvertebrates (animals
without a backbone that are visible without magnification)
Objective: Collect and identify stream insects and other tiny invertebrates
in a group outing
Success Indicator: Participants coordinate a sampling expedition and
predict the health of a stream based on its macroinvertebrate diversity

This guide is designed to assist more experienced volunteer monitors with field identification of macroinvertebrates found in our rivers, streams and wetlands. General information is included about the distinguishing features that aid in identification of each order or class, and a wide variety of family illustrations and descriptions are also provided. However, in certain cases you should refer to more complete dichotomous key to determine the family.

The Stream Study provides a method to determine the water quality of a stream based on the collection and identification of stream-bottom macroinvertebrates.
Macroinvertebrates are animals that have no backbone and are visible without magnification. Stream-bottom macroinvertebrates include such animals as crayfish, mussels, aquatic snails, aquatic worms, and the larvae of aquatic insects.

pdf file for review

DETERMINE THE STREAM-REACH BOUNDARY. (2) NEAR THE LOWER END OF THE REACH (IN THE DEEPEST PORTION OF THE RUN), COLLECT WATER SAMPLES AND ANALYZE USING THE CHEMICAL TESTS YOU HAVE AVAILABLE. YOU MAY USE YOUR COLLECTION CONTAINER TO OBSERVE WATERCOLOR AND CLARITY AND TO DETERMINE WATER ODORS. (3) MEASURE THE WIDTH-DEPTH AND VELOCITY, AND ESTIMATE THE WATER LEVEL. (4) IF YOU USE A TWO-POLE KICK-NET, COLLECT A MINIMUM OF THREE BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATE SAMPLES FROM THE BEST RIFFLE OR RUNS WITHIN YOUR STREAM REACH. USE THE TABLE ON PAGE FIVE TO RECORD INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR COLLECTIONS. (5) EVALUATE THE PHYSICAL AND HABITAT CONDITIONS; RECORD INFORMATION ABOUT KNOWN LAND USE ACTIVITIES. (6) SKETCH YOUR REACH OR SUBMIT PHOTOGRAPHS WITH THE SURVEY, AND ADD ANY OTHER COMMENTS THAT YOU FEEL ARE IMPORTANT. NOTE: A SCIENTIFIC COLLECTION PERMIT FROM WVDNR IS REQUIRED FOR ALL BENTHIC COLLECTIONS.