BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE: Water Quality Lab

Review 1. We, as a class, caught many different species of bugs on our field trip. What were these specific bugs called? Benthic Macro Invertebrates 2. What do those words mean? Benthic=bottom-dwelling Macro=large enough to see with the naked eye Invertebrate= a living thing without a backbone

Background 1. Why would water chemists collect benthic macro invertebrates? They are excellent indicators of water quality. 2. What is an indicator of water quality? An indicator is something in the water that shows us if the water is healthy or not.

Background Continued Benthic macro invertebrates are great indicators of water quality because different species have different levels of tolerance to pollution. 1. What does it mean to be tolerant of something? Tolerance= the ability to withstand something, to not be bothered or affected by it

Tolerance levels There are three main categories the invertebrates fall under: 1. Low Tolerant/Intolerant to Pollution 2. Middle Tolerant/ Facultative to Pollution 3. Highly Tolerant/ Tolerant to Pollution

Collecting When scientist collect the inverts, they give each species they collect a score based on their tolerance level. Low tolerance=1 point Middle tolerance=2 points High tolerance=3 points After they collect, they add up all of the points, and this score tells the scientist the water quality of the area they collected from.

Putting it all together The higher the score, the higher the water quality. Let’s practice! Solve this problem: The class went out to the pond and collected many different species of invertebrates, but every invertebrate we found belonged to the high tolerant/tolerant category. What does that say about the water? The water quality is very poor because the only things surviving in it have a very high tolerance to pollution.

Now it’s your turn Now, you are going to act like a water scientist and add up your own water quality score based on the invertebrates that you found. Follow along with your Critter Score Card Worksheet and let’s find out how good or not so good the water was!

How many 1 Point Critters did you catch? Think back to what you caught on your field trip Use the next slide to help you remember the different species of invertebrates you found in this category Write down the number of DIFFERENT species you found in this category (i.e. if you caught two water boatmen, that does not count as two) in the box to the very right of the “One Point Critters” labelled “Amount Found”

One Point Critters (High Tolerance/ Tolerant to pollution) Pouch Snail Water BoatmanWater Strider Water Flea/ Daphnia Horsefly LarvaThread Worm LeechRat-tailed Maggot Backswimmer Flat Worm Midge LarvaMosquito Larva

How many Two Point Critters did you catch? Think back to what you caught on your field trip Use the next slide to help you remember the different species of invertebrates you found in this category Write down the number of DIFFERENT species you found in this category (i.e. if you caught two dragonfly larvae, that does not count as two) in the box to the very right of the “Two Point Critters” labelled “Amount Found”

Two Point Critters (Middle Tolerance/Facultative to Pollution) Dragonfly Larva Damselfly Larva Scud Crayfish Fingernail Clam Cranefly Larva Whirligig Beetle Water Mite Sow BugWater Snipe LarvaAlderfly Larva Water Scavenger Beetle

How many three point critters did you catch? Think back to what you caught on your field trip Use the next slide to help you remember the different species of invertebrates you found in this category Write down the number of DIFFERENT species you found in this category (i.e. if you caught two Ghost Shrimp, that does not count as two) in the box to the very right of the “One Point Critters” labelled “Amount Found”

Three Point Critters (Low Tolerance/ Intolerant Organisms) Mayfly Larva Ghost ShrimpStonefly Larva Caddisfly Larva Riffle Beetle Gilled Snail Water Penny Dobsonfly Larva Water Scorpion Mussel

Let’s add them up! Take the number of one point critters you caught and multiply that number by one, put the new number into the category labelled “equals” Creature Amount Found Multiply Point Equals 1 Point X 1 = 2 Point x 2 = 3 Point X 3 =

Let’s add them up! Take the number of two point critters you caught and multiply that number by two, put the new number into the category labelled “equals”

Let’s add them up! Take the number of three point critters you caught and multiply that number by three, put the new number into the category labelled “equals”

Let’s add them up! Now add up all three numbers from the last three slides. This number is your Water Quality Score. Write down the new number on the line labeled “Total Water Quality Score”

How is the water? If you got: 10 or less=poor water quality 11-16=fair water quality 17-22=good water quality 23 and up=excellent water quality (Scoring based from Project WET Curriculum- a collaboration of Scientists and Educators) Write down the rating on the line labeled “Water Quality Rating”

Class Discussion Questions 1. What is a benthic macro invertebrate, and what role do they play in our wetland ecosystem? 2. Why do water chemists collect macro invertebrates? 3. During your experiment, was there anything that could have affected your results (variables)? 4. What could we have done to get better results? 5. Why is it important that we stop too much pollution from entering our wetland areas?