Aquatic Macroinvertebrates Lab Using population sizes to assess the health of the environment

Water Stream Trays

Bellwork HAVE SLATE, MARKER, & ERASER ON DESK! 1.Draw a simple food chain with a SHARK at the top. Label the producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, and the tertiary consumer. (at least 4 organisms) 2.If the shark species in your food chain suddenly became endangered, give 3 possible reasons for this?

Why estimate population sizes? List as many reasons as you can think of Hunting Permits Endangered Species Assess impact of Disasters, Disease, Climate Change Assess health of environment To learn!

Why estimate population sizes? Assess impact of Disasters, Disease, Climate Change To learn! Assess health of environment pollution levels using aquatic macroinvertebrates!

Where do we have running water in Arizona? FWHS Madera Canyon

Madera Canyon Bugs May carefully pick up & observe grasshoppers Make observations on slate- why would we use aquatic bugs instead of land bugs to assess health of the environment? oRQ4

How can you determine the health of an environment using population numbers? Talk to your neighbor. Be ready to share.

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates & Water Quality Notes

What is an Aquatic Macroinvertebrate? Aquatic = live in water Macro = can see w/out microscope Invertebrate = no backbone

Why are Aquatic Macroinvertebrates good for assessing environmental health? They live near bottom of stream or lake, don’t move far, can’t escape pollution

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates react differently Intolerant macroinverts may die in polluted water Only see large populations in healthy streams & lakes Label these species with a on your sheet (= less pollution) Mayflies Stoneflies Caddisflies

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates react differently Tolerant macroinverts inhabit spaces vacated by the others that died Large populations in polluted streams & lakes Label species these with a  on your sheet (= polluted) Midges Tubifex Worms Pouch Snails

Today’s Activity You will have 8 seconds at your water station to collect as many aquatic macroinvertebrates as possible (goal = 100+) Sort bugs as a whole group Fill in data table for # organisms in each group

Percent composition calculation practice 13 midges 7 dobsonflies 5 craneflies Total = 52% 13 / 25 = 0.52 >>> 52% 28% 20% 25 Total = 25

At your table Materials person- clean all petri dishes & sprinkle new soil on top to hide items Jefe- announce stream # & you are the head mathematician Recorder- make sure everyone writes down the correct stream # and % on their sheet Presenter- be ready to share data

Assess the water quality from your stream Jefe read instructions & get group started on Data Table 2 6 If my group found 6 stoneflies, is this what I write in data table 2?

Assess the water quality from your stream Jefe read instructions & get group started on Data Table Add all group scores to get TOTAL Recorder- Add water quality score & assessment to board when finished!

You can double check water quality with EPT/Midge ratio Generally speaking, the more EPTs you have, the better the water quality Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) Stoneflies(Plecoptera) Caddisflies (Trichoptera) Mayflies Stoneflies Caddisflies

You can also assess water quality with EPT/Midge ratio The more midges you have…the lower the water quality Midges (Chironomidae) Midges

EPT/Midge Ratio (on back of sheet) Mayflies (Ephemeroptera) = ____ Stoneflies(Plecoptera) = ____ Caddisflies (Trichoptera) = ____ Total EPT = ____ Ratio: Ratio: Total EPT / Midges = _____ Higher ratios # = better water quality

Closure- do on back After the BP oil spill, many people were concerned about the extent of the damage done to the Gulf aquatic environment. 1 paragraph w/ at least 3 vocab words from today: If you were asked to determine whether the Gulf has rebounded (i.e. is healthy again), explain what steps you would take & how you would know if the aquatic environment is healthy again.