"Get your hands dirty and your feet wet"
Do you want to know if your favorite stream is clean and healthy? It is possible to assess the quality of streams with the help of some tiny but important creatures that live in the water. If you flip over a rock in a fast flowing stream, chances are that you will see some aquatic insects scurrying away. These insects are called benthic macroinvertebrates—creatures without a backbone seen with the naked eye—and include aquatic insects, mites, worms, snails, and crayfish. The presence or absence of various 
macroinvertebrates can tell us whether the water in a stream is impaired. Watch the Kick & Sweep sampling technique video to see how stream organisms are sampled.
Let us help you monitor a stream using aquatic insects and other creatures. The Study Our Streams program includes workshops, a field manual and the loan of equipment to get you started. Contact us for more information.
Do you want to know more about benthic communities in some of the streams in this region? Take a look at the science behind the citizen monitoring program:
- Benthic Communities Reference Condition Sites in Thunder Bay, 2004 (pdf)
- Benthic Commuinities Reference Condition Sites in Thunder Bay, 2005/2007 (pdf)
- Aquatic Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in Streams from the North Shore of Lake Superior, 2008 (pdf)
- Aquatic Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in Streams on the North Shore of Lake Superior, 2009 (pdf)
- Aquatic Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in Streams on the North Shore of Lake Superior, 2010 (pdf)
- STORMWATER IMPACT ASSESSMENT: LYONS CHANNEL AND THIRD AVENUE CHANNEL, 2010 (pdf)
Page last updated on Wednesday, May 25, 2011
