Hello again, water lovers!
I wanted to share one more project that we at CRWA have helped with recently. Benthic macro invertebrate sampling is a common and easy way to assess
the health of a water system. The first step in this process is to identify all the different habitats of the water body (pools, runs and rifles), and assess them with parameters like bank stability and vegetation coverage. Next, we collect our samples. Essentially, this involves taking large nets,
jabbing them into the water and kicking up sediment, with the goal
of upturning and collecting all the little critters that live in the bottom. Some
of these tiny organisms are very sensitive to habitat changes, so if there are
a lot of them, then it’s a good sign that the river is in good health and hasn't been subjected to change. If these sensitive species
are either lacking or nonexistent though, and instead there are a lot more species
capable of surviving change, it’s a sign that the natural state of the river
is being impacted. This little guy, known as a caddisfly, is very common in this
kind of bio assessment:
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| Image from http://www.twp.lancaster.pa.us/parksRecreation/LCCRR/NovWorkshop/invert.asp |
So, along with a few others working here at CRWA, I assisted
a graduate student from UMass in collecting these benthic macro samples to
analyze the health of the Charles River and its tributaries. It was dirty work, and often very
cold, but it was also a lot of fun! Plus, we helped someone achieve higher
education while adding to our own collection of scientific data, upon which we
base our advocacy and law.
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| Here's Justin, measuring the bank angle for the habitat assessment. |
And that, in a nutshell, is just another way CRWA has been
helping out its community!
Meghan
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