Transcript Citizens’ Environment Watch

Citizens’ Environment Watch
Water Quality Monitoring with Benthic
Macroinvertebrates
Spring 2009
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Citizens’ Environment Watch
• Mission
CEW empowers people to take an active role in
protecting and sustaining nature. We give people
the tools for education, monitoring and influencing
positive change.
• Since 1996, CEW has:
– Worked with over 6,000 volunteers
including over 3,500 youth
– Led over 100 environmental
monitoring sessions in 10
watersheds across Ontario
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– Held over 10 multi-stakeholder
community forums
Our Programs
CEW has a diverse set of programs to
maximize the impact of our volunteers to
protect and sustain nature.
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Changing Currents
• One of CEW’s
longest running
programs
• In over 10
watersheds
• Standardized
protocols
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Students in Action!
“I signed up because I heard the course would be mostly
outside and I thought it would be fun, but it was really much
more than that. It gave us the tools to go out and actually
change something.”
Grade 11 student participant
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Roles and Responsibilities
CEW:
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Provide training & equipment
Aid in scheduling and project planning
Help with finding and ‘adopting’ sites
Provide leadership during field study
Data management
Guidance in developing community projects
Roles and Responsibilities
Teachers:
– Deliver in-class components of the program
(see CEW’s Teacher & Student Guide)
– Determine sample site(s)
– Scheduling field study (transportation and
permission forms)
– Provide CEW with copies of the datasheets
– Ensure timely equipment return
– Send CEW materials related to your field study
(e.g. pictures, comments, action plans, etc.)
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What are we doing today?
• Monitoring: The Foundation (20 mins)
• Study Techniques (40 mins)
Break (15 mins)
• Identification Workshop (45 mins)
Lunch (30 mins)
• Field Study (1hr & 30 mins)
Break (15 mins)
• Understanding your Data (15 mins)
• Debrief and Overview (15 mins)
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Why Monitor?
• To understand the state of your local environment
• Monitoring is a process, or a means to an end
• All monitoring needs to be informed by a goal, or a
study question
Sample Study Questions:
• What is the water quality of my local stream?
(baseline monitoring)
• Is this golf course affecting water quality?
(upstream and downstream)
• Do these new houses have an impact on water quality?
(before and after)
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Why Monitor?
Benefits of monitoring:
• Improve understanding
within your community
• Raise a red flag
• Inform stewardship
projects
• Link to local decisionmaking process
• It’s fun!
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Site Selection
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Wadable stream close to your school
Enough space to accommodate a large group
Should have 40 metres length of stream
Should be pre-scouted for safety
Safety & Equipment
• Do not trespass
• Make sure there are multiple safe
access points to the stream
•Be aware of water levels, poisonous
plants and adverse weather
• Don’t monitoring in deep areas
• Bring a cell phone & first aid kit
(provided by CEW)
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What indicators can we use?
Type
Examples
Pros
Cons
Physical
Water temperature,
turbidity, stream
channel dimensions,
Direct, simple
equipment
Frequency,
duplication
Chemical
pH, dissolved oxygen,
phosphates, nitrates
Direct, set standards
Frequency,
duplication,
expense, technical
Biological
Benthic
macroinvertebrates,
fish, plant biomass
Frequency, integrated/
cumulative effects,
ecosystem approach,
inexpensive
Indirect, training,
standards
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Benthic Macroinvertebrates
Benthic Macroinvertebrates (BMIs) are:
• Aquatic
• Bottom-dwelling (benthic)
• Visible to the naked eye (macro)
• Lacking a “backbone” (invertebrate)
• Include both adult and immature forms
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Why Use BMI?
• Sedentary mode of life (i.e. narrow ecological
range)
• Integrate the effects of both long- and short-term
environmental impacts (i.e. ecosystem health)
• Relatively easy to sample (e.g. D-nets) and identify
(i.e. coarse taxonomy)
• Are abundant in most streams and are a primary
food source to many important fish
• Standardized – applied by many different groups
(government, conservation authorities, academics)
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Data Collection: In Brief
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Choosing a site and setting up the transects
Data collection and sieving
Datasheet completion
Working with large groups
Sampling options and steps
Filling in Data Sheet 3
Choosing a Site
• Identifying riffles
and pools
• Site must be 40 m
or greater – mark
downstream and
upstream limits
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Setting Up Transects
• Measure the wetted width
• Determine # transects:
Minimum Stream
Width
# of Transects
Less than 1 m
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1 m to 1.5 m
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Greater than 1.5 m
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Greater than 3 m
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• Calculate distance between transects
= site length / (# transects - 1)
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Example
• Stream Width: 4 m
• Site Length: 40 m
Upstream Limit
10m
10m
10m
10m
Downstream Limit
Direction of Flow
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Data Collection and Sieving 1
• Start at
downstream
limit
• Travel along
transect (see
next slide)
• Transfer to next
transect
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Upstream Limit
Downstream Limit
Direction of Flow
Data Collection and Sieving 2
• Hold D-net so that flow goes
into net
• Kick upstream of net ~5cm
deep as travel along transect
• After 1 or two transects,
sieve sample, transfer to
sample bucket, continue
sampling
• Pick-up unembedded rocks
and dislodge any attached
bugs
• MUST collect bugs from ALL
transects before subsampling!
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Data Collection and Sieving 3
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Empty D-net into sieve over waste water bucket
Inspect rocks for bugs (return rocks to stream)
Pour waste water through sieve
Transfer sieved sample to sample bucket (add water)
Scoop sub sample into smaller tray
Identify until you have 100 bugs
Datasheet Completion
• Datasheet 1: Group info, Riparian data,
Stream width, substrate type, overhead
cover
• Datasheet 2: Site observations,
photographs, sketch
• Datasheet 3: Bug count
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Working with large groups
• Split students into groups
• Give students specific “jobs”
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Sample collection
Sieving
Completion of each datasheet
Picking up garbage, etc.
Sampling Options
• In-field processing and ID with hand lenses
• In-class processing and ID with hand lenses or
microscopes for a closer look
• Preserve the sample and ID in-class/lab
(required for first monitoring session - QA/QC)
• Take note of your method at the top of
Datasheet 3
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Steps
• In your kit, you have…
• Sub-sampling using the 125 ml scoop
• Swirl the sample, take ONE scoop and put it
into your white tray
• Scan the tray and pick out bugs
• Can’t find any more bugs in your sub-sample?
Look again (about 2 min), then dump the
remains and get another scoop
• Collectively pick out AT LEAST 100 bugs – you
MUST finish the last scoop!
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Steps, cont’d
• Options: A) Pick and sort at the same time OR
B) Pick all the bugs, then sort
• Use the tweezers and pipettes to pick up bugs,
the petri dishes and hand lenses to take a
closer look and the ice cube tray to sort
• TIP: assign different people in your group
different tasks: ie picker, sorter, recorder
• TIP: use CEW resources to help you ID, sort
bugs into similar groups, then narrow it down,
remember the major identification techniques
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Filling in Datasheet #3
• Fancy scientific number recording
system:
. .. .. ..
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.. ..
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1 2
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9 10
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Break
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Citizens’ Environment Watch
Benthic Macroinvertebrate
Identification
BMI Indicators
• The CEW protocol uses a suite of 27 BMI
indicators that vary in their tolerance
levels to pollution
• BMIs include organisms in different
developmental stages (e.g. adult and
immature forms - larvae and nymphs)
• An organism is a larvae or nymph
depending on its type of metamorphosis
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Egg
Egg
↓
↓
Larva
Nymph
↓
(instars)
Pupa
↓
↓
Adult
Adult
Incomplete Metamorphosis
Complete Metamorphosis
Larvae vs. Nymphs
Larvae vs. Nymphs
• Complete
metamorphosis
• Incomplete
metamorphosis
• 4 stages:
• 3 stages:
egg/larva/pupa/adult
egg/nymph/adult
• 88% of insects
• 12% of insects
• Larvae:
worm-like, don’t
resemble adults
• Nymphs:
resemble adults
BMI Breakdown
• Adult BMI: no legs
• Larval BMI: no legs
• Larval BMI: legs
• Nymph BMI: legs
• Adult BMI: legs
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BMI Breakdown
• Adult BMI, no legs (7)
– Shells:
• Clams (Pelecypoda)
• Snails (Gastropoda)
– Tentacles:
• Hydras (Coelenterata)
– Flat Body:
• Flatworms (Turbellaria)
• Leeches (Hirudinea)
– Round Body:
• Roundworms (Nematoda)
• Aquatic Earthworms (Oligochaeta)
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Gastropoda (Snail)
• Size range: 2 - 70 mm
• Movement: none (found
floating or at bottom of
tray)
• Colour: grey, brown or
black
• Hard shell
• Spiral shaped
• Do not count empty shells
• Tolerance Value: 8
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Pelecypoda (Clam)
• Size range: 2 - 250 mm
• Movement: none (found at
bottom of tray)
• Colour: white, yellow, brown,
grey, black
• Hard shell
• Flat, two halves hinged
• Do not count empty shells
• Tolerance Value: 6
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Coelenterata (Hydras)
• Size range: 2-25 mm long
• Movement: sessile
• Colour: variable, often clear
to whitish
• Inconspicuous, tube with
tentacles
• Asexual reproduction
through budding
• Tolerance Value: 8
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Turbellaria (Flatworm)
• Size range: 5-30 mm
• Movement: creep slowly on
bottom
• Colour: greyish brown,
colourless
• Very flat, eyespots on head
• Tolerance Level: 8
http://www.microscopyu.com/moviegallery/pondscum/platyhelminthes/dalyellia/
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Hirudinea (Leech)
• Size range: 5-400 mm
• Movement: inch along
bottom with the aid of
suckers at either end of
body
• Colour: brown, black,
green on top/orange on
bottom
• Segmented body
• Often with several pairs
of eyes on head
• Tolerance Value: 8
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Nematoda (Roundworms)
• Size range: usually <1
cm long
• Movement: Rapid, whiplike movements
• Colour: frequently clear
• Unsegmented, head
usually tapered, tail
pointed
• Tolerance Value: 8
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Oligochaeta (Aquatic Earthworm)
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Size range: 1 to 30 mm
Movement: crawl along bottom of tray
Colour: pinkish, light brown
Similar appearance to earth worm, with bundles of hairs on each
segment behind the first
Segmented body with clitellum (swollen, glandular region)
Tolerance Level: 8
BMI Breakdown
• Larval BMI, no legs (7)
– Chubby leathery body: Flies
• Horseflies (Tabanidae)
• Craneflies (Tipulidae)
• Misc. flies (Diptera)
• Blackflies (Simuliidae)
– Thin smooth segmented body:
• No-see-ums (Ceratopogonidae)
• Midges (Chironomidae) (parapods)
– Large head:
• Mosquitos (larvae and pupae)
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Tabanidae (Horsefly)
Size range: 1.5 - 40 mm
Movement: unknown
Colour: white or cream
pointed at both ends, leathery texture
Segmented, straight or slightly curved
Seven pairs of bumps on abdomen (creeping welts with hooks)
Head retracted into thorax
Tolerance Level: 5
Tipulidae (Cranefly)
• Size range: 10-45 mm
• Movement: similar to a
worm
• Colour: white, yellowish or
light brown
• One end with finger like
projection, lobes or long
hairs
• Reduced head is retracted
into thorax
• Soft body; may have
creeping welts
• Tolerance Level: 3
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http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/diptera/tipulidae/3936.94craneflylarv.html
Misc. Diptera (Misc. True
Flies)
• May have parapods,
pseudopodia (temporary
projection), creeping
welts or other
appendages, but no
jointed thoracic legs
• Often maggot-like; head
may be retracted into
thorax
• Adults with one pair of
wings
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Simuliidae (Blackfly)
• Size range: 3 - 15 mm
• Movement: Similar to
an inch worm
• Colour: brown or
greyish
• Often with labral fans
• Similar to flattened
maggot with one end
1/3 fatter
• Sessile (non-motile),
attached at posterior
end
• Tolerance Level: 6
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Ceratopogonidae (no-seeums)
• Size range: 3-13mm
• Movement: whipping
motion, but stiff when
picked up
• Very slender, pointed at
both ends, segmented;
small pointed sclerotized
(hard) head
• No abdominal
appendages; may have
some terminal abdominal
hairs
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http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=v&AnimalvideoID=3160
Chironomidae (Midge)
• Size range: 2 - 20 mm
• Movement: whip back
and forth
• Colour: red, white or
cream
• Shaped like letter “J”
• May be in tube of silt
• Well developed, hardened
head with eyes; anterior
and posterior parapods
(lobed shaped body
extensions)
• Tolerance Level: 7
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Culicidae (Mosquitos)
• Size range: 3-15
mm
• Movement: twitch
when touched
• Colour: brown
• Thickened body at
head
• Segmented body,
curved at one end
• Tolerance Level: 5
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http://insects.tamu.edu/images/insects/common/images/b-txt/bimg221.html
BMI Breakdown
• Larval BMI, legs (4)
– Alderflies / Fishflies (Megaloptera)
– Caddisflies (Trichoptera)
– Beetles (Coleoptera)
– Aquatic Moths (Lepidoptera)
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Megaloptera (Helgrammite)
• Size range: 25-90 mm
• Movement: Crawl on
bottom
• Colour: brown
• Large and hairy similar to
centipedes
• Hair on first few
abdominal segments
• Well developed mandibles
• Often with anal prolegs
• Tolerance Level: 4
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Trichoptera (Caddisfly)
• Size range: 2-50 mm
• Movement: Slow movements
on bottom
• Colour: abdomen cream
coloured
• Often no movement if found
in cases of sticks, stone or
sand (look for heads inside
cases)
• Three pairs of legs behind
head
• Dorsal thoracic plates
variously sclerotized
• Anal prolegs with hooks
• Tolerance Level: 4
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Coleoptera (Beetle)
• Size range: 2 - 40 mm
• Movement: swimming or crawling
on bottom
• Colour: brown, black (sometimes
mottled)
• Most have 3 pairs of legs near
head
• Larvae are similar to caddisfly
larvae but bodies are hard, with
mandibles, maxillae, labium and
2- or 3-segmented antennae;
may have unsegmented terminal
abdominal appendages
• Adults: hardened forewings
protect soft hind wings, antennae
with 11 or fewer segments
• Tolerance Level: 4
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Lepidoptera (Aquatic Moths)
• Size range: 10 - 25 mm
• Movement: crawl like a
caterpillar
• Head with ring of ocelli
(small simple eye)
• 3 pairs of short, segmented,
thoracic legs (between head
and abdomen)
• Ventral, abdominal prolegs
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http://www.nature.ca/rideau/b/b5b-e.html#synclita
BMI Breakdown
• Nymph BMI, legs (4)
– Dragonfly (Anisoptera)
– Damselfly (Zygoptera)
– Mayfly (Ephemeroptera)
– Stonefly (Plecoptera)
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Anisoptera (Dragonfly)
• Size range: 15-45 mm
• Movement: slow
• Colour: green to
greenish brown
• Larger than mayfly but
without tail filaments;
no visible external gills
• Modified labium for
catching prey
• Large eyes and head
• Often flat
• Tolerance Level: 5
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Zygoptera (Damselfly)
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Size range: 10 to 26 mm
Movement: slow moving but more active than dragonflies
Colour: green to greenish brown
3 gills present on end of tail
Thinner than dragonfly
Three pairs of legs
Tolerance Level: 7
Ephemeroptera (Mayfly)
• Size range: 3-28 mm (not
including tail)
• Movement: Swim up and
down in ‘s’ pattern
• Colour: brown or brownish
black (sometimes mottled)
• 3 pairs of legs
• Single tarsal claw
• Feather-like gills under
abdomen
• Three tail filaments
(sometimes two)
• Tolerance Level: 5
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Plecoptera (Stonefly)
• Size range: 5-50mm
• Movement: slow
• Colour: yellowish, brown or
blackish (sometimes mottled)
• Similar to mayfly but with 2 tail
filaments
• Sometimes feather-like gills
under body (not dorso-lateral on
abdomen)
• Tarsi with 2 claws
• Tolerance Level: 1
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BMI Breakdown
• Adult BMI, legs (6)
– 3 pairs of legs:
•True bugs (Hemiptera)
•Beetles (Coleoptera)
– More than 3 pairs of legs:
•Water mites (Hydrachnidae)
•Scuds (Amphipoda)
•Sow Bugs (Isopoda)
•Crayfish (Decapoda)
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Hemiptera
(True Bug)
• Size range: 15-40 mm
• Movement: swimming or
skimming on water surface
• Colour: black or brownish
• Legs sometimes long and
stick out from body
• Often two pairs of soft folded
wings
• Often with well developed
breathing appendages
• Sucking mouth parts
(rostrum)
• Tolerance Level: 5
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Coleoptera (Beetle)
• Size range: 2 - 40 mm
• Movement: swimming or crawling
on bottom
• Colour: brown, black (sometimes
mottled)
• Most have 3 pairs of legs near
head
• Larvae are similar to caddisfly
larvae but bodies are hard, with
mandibles, maxillae, labium and 2or 3-segmented antennae; may
have unsegmented terminal
abdominal appendages
• Adults: hardened forewings protect
soft hind wings, antennae with 11
or fewer segments
• Tolerance Level: 4
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Hydrachnida (Water Mite)
• Size range: 0.4-3 mm
• Movement: appear like a
small moving dot uncoordinated,
scrambling
• Colour: bright red, green,
blue or brown
• Body round
• Four pairs of legs
• Difficult to see
• Tolerance Level: 6
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/moviegallery/pondscum/arachnids/hydracarina/
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Isopoda (Sow Bug)
• Size range: 5-20 mm
• Movement: crawl slowly on
bottom
• Colour: brownish, red
• Many pairs of legs (up to 8)
• Dorso-ventrally compressed
• Often associated with organic
matter
• Tolerance Level: 8
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Amphipoda (Scud)
• Size range: 5-20 mm
• Movement: swim on side
• Colour: blueish grey, brown,
green, red
• Many pairs of legs (up to 14)
• Long antennae
• Tolerance Level: 6
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/kils/hyperia/hyperia1.htm
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Decapodae (Crayfish)
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Size range: 10 to 150 mm
Movement: walk on bottom
Colour: green, brown, blue
Similar appearance to lobster
Large claws
Eyes on small stalks
Escapes backwards by beating
tail
• Tolerance Level: 5
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References
• Images and characteristics adapted
from Gartner Lee Limited, 1997 and
EMAN Biomonitoring Course 2003
• Commonness rankings from Jacques
Whitford Environmental Limited, 2001
• Tolerance values taken from Watershed
Report Card, 2000
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Summary – Major
Identification Characteristics
• Colour
• Size
• Body Type/Features
• Movement
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Lunch
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Data Entry
Taxon
Common Name
Amphipoda
Scud
6
Anisoptera
Dragonfly
5
Ceratopogonidae
No-see-ums
Chironomidae
Midge
7
Coleoptera
Beetle
4
Cuclidae
Mosquito
5
Decapoda
Crayfish
5
Diptera, Misc.
Misc. True Flies
Ephemeroptera
Mayfly
5
Gastropoda
Snail
8
Hirudinea
Leech
8
Isopoda
Aquatic Sowbug
8
Unknown
Unknown
Number (All Groups except Unknown)
Number (Diptera)
Number (Insects)
Number (Most Abundant Group)
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Tolerance Value
NA
NA
NA
Count (#)
Pres/Abs (1 or 0)
Data Analysis in Brief
• Different indices:
• % worm, % midge, % sowbug, % snail, # of groups, %
dominant group, % EPT, % diptera, % insects, Hilsenhoff
Biotic Index, aggregate assessment
Index
Explanation
Impaired
Possibly
Impaired
Unimpaired
Source(s)
% midge
= 100 x Chir/N
where,
Chir = # of
Chironomidae and
N = total # of
individuals
> 40
10 to 40
< 10
Griffiths
(1998)
(Chironomidae)
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Data Analysis & Interpretation
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Thank You!
Citizens’ Environment Watch
204-147 Spadina Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 2L7
647-258-3280
www.CitizensEnvironmentWatch.org
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