Aquatic Macroinvertebrates in the Little Salt River

The school year is almost over, but the past couple of weeks have been among my busiest of the year.  In addition to spending several days doing forestry and forest ecology with classrooms, I have also spent multiple days at the Little Salt River in Shepherd with students collecting and identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates (animals without backbones that live in water and are large enough to see without magnification).  Over the course of the fifteen days I will have spent five days along the river.  Among other things, the students have found hundreds of crayfish, Green Frog tadpoles, dozens of small fish, scud (amphipods), mayfly larvae, damselfly larvae, caddisfly larvae, water mites, and crawling water beetles.  We also found several examples of a species that I had never seen before, Creeping Water Bugs.

 
I have also taken dozens of photos of the students at work.  Most of the students get super involved in the work and their allotted time just flies by.  A lot of words have been written in the past decade or so about the disconnect between children and nature. 

It gives me a lot of hope to see students elbow-deep in a bucket of muddy river water trying to identify snails.  Why does this give me hope.  People who understand things like aquatic macroinvertebrates tend to understand their importance and care about them.  People that care about things like aquatic macroinvertebrates will want to protect them and their habitats.  These kids learning to identify snails today are the land stewards of the future.

 

Aquatic Ecology with Shepherd Elementary students

Last week I spent two days at the Little Salt River with students from Shepherd Elementary students. 

Why were we at the river? 

The students were collecting and identifying aquatic macroinvertebrates. 

Shepherd 5th graders use a dip net to sample aquatic macroinvertebrates from the Little Salt River

What exactly is an aquatic macroinvertebrate? 

Let's break that into parts.  Aquatic means that a plant or animal lives in or around water.  It comes from the Latin word aqua which means "water".  The word invertebrate comes from the Latin root word vertebra which means "joint" - normally refering to the joints of the spine.  Invertebrate means that an animal lacks a spine.  The prefix macro- means large or large scale.  It comes from the Greek word makros meaning "large or long".  Therefore, a macroinvertebrate is a large animal that lacks a spine - large in the sense that it is big enough to see without magnification.  Add it all together and an aquatic macroinvertebrate is an animal that lives in water, lacks a spine, and is large enough to see with the naked eye.

This crayfish is an aquatic macroinvertebrate.

So is this gilled snail.

Why were students trying to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates?

Many aquatic macroinvertebrate species have varying tolerances for water pollution.  The absence of certain species may indicate low water quality.  The presence of a wide range of species usually indicates higher water quality.

Students complete a biological monitoring sheet to determine water quality

Overall the students found a wide variety of aquatic macroinvertebrates including mayfly larvae, caddisfly larvae, gilled and pouch snails, damselfly larvae, dragonfly larvae, scuds or amphipods, crayfish, freshwater clams and mussels, leaches, and midge larvae.  Vertebrate lifeforms collected included fish and tadpoles.  The wide variety (and number) of animals collected indicated that at this site, the Little Salt River has excellent water quality.

Here are a few more photos of the students sampling...

Holiday field guide gift guide - 16 guides for 2016 (part 2)

Field Guides to Insects

5.  Pollinators of Native Plants:  Attract, Observe and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm (ISBN 9780991356300).

If you already own a bunch of field guides to plant you probably spend a lot of time looking at plants.  If you spend a lot of time looking at plants you probably see lots of insects.  You might even wonder what the insects are and why you see different ones on different flowers.  If this describes you, then you want to own this book.

I heard the author of this book speak at the 2016 Wildflower Association of Michigan Conference and bought the book the same day.  It is the first book that I am aware of that talks specifically about the associations between native plants and their pollinators.  Although the book is limited in scope with only sixty-five plant species being featured, it includes more than 1600 photographs of flowers and insects!

This flower species in this book are arranged by habitat type.  Each species of plant is given a spread of two (or more) pages that includes a description of the plant, range map, flowering period, and habitat requirements, as well as a list of pollinator species (with photographs).  If you want to plant wildflowers as habitat for bees and butterflies, this is a must-have.  The book was published by Pollination Press LLC and retails for about $30.

6.  Butterflies of Michigan Field Guide by Jaret C. Daniels (ISBN9781591930983)

At some point you might want to know more about a specific group of insects.  Butterflies are a great place to start - there are only 147 species that are likely to be found in Michigan. 


I like this book because each species has its own two page spread.  The information provided includes detailed description, as well as a range map, a list of larval host plants, a calendar showing when it can be encountered, and a list of comparable species.  There are also pictures of both adults and larva - several entries in the book to not have larval photographs.  Another feature that I really like about this book is that the butterflies are divided by color - if a species has more than one color morph it is listed in more than one section.  This sensible approach to identification is something that you usually do not see outside of wildflower books, but it works well for butterflies.

Unlike some of the other books on this list, this is a true "field" guide.  It is small enough (about 5 inches by 7 inches) and light enough to stick in your back pocket and carry all day. The book was published by Adventure Publications in 2005.  It retails for under $20.  I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about Michigan's butterfly species as well as anyone interested in observing the relationship between insects and native plants.

7.  Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America by David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie (ISBN 9780547238487).

If butterflies are too easy (There are only 147 Michigan species after all!), it may be time to try your hand at moth identification.  I was really excited back in 2011 when I found out that this book was in development.  I was so excited that I asked for it for Christmas in 2012 - Thanks Shara!

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the moths in this book are arranged by family.  There is a color photograph for each species, with arrows pointing to distinguishing marks.  There is also a brief description and range map for each species.  If you are not familiar with all of the different types of moths, the book can be daunting to use - there are nearly 1500 species depicted in this guide.  Even so, this guide is worth having because of the breadth of species that it covers.  At $29 it is a reasonable price for such an extensive resource.

8.  Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History by David L. Wagner (ISBN 9780691121444)

Published by the Princeton University Press in 2005, this book has all the qualities of a book you would expect from a guide published by a well-renowned university.  It is extensive (more than 700 species), well illustrated with photographs of both caterpillar and their adult forms, and well researched.  Each species description includes information information on range, season, and host plants as well as a detailed description of each species.

The book is slightly too large to carry in your pocket (5 inches by 8 inches).  It is also quite heavy - it is printed on a heavy paper and runs more than 500 pages.  It is however the best guide to caterpillars that I own, so I do frequently carry it in my backpack while out in the field.  Priced at under $25, this is a great edition to the bookshelf of any nature nut or gardener who wants to know what is eating their plants.

9.  A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America by J. Reese Voshell, Jr. (ISBN 9780939923878)

If you would rather wade in swamps and river than chase butterflies through fields, this might be the book for you.  I spend much of the spring working with students to catch and identify aquatic insects (and other macroinvertebrates).  Although I can identify most of the things that we find by sight, this is the book that I use if I want more detailed information.


Although much of the book is devoted to aquatic insects, there are also sections on mollusks (clams and mussels), gastropods (snails), annelids (worms), crustaceans (crayfish, shrimp, etc.), and more.  The book starts with a discussion of aquatic ecology and the roles, life histories, and pollution tolerance of various groups of aquatic invertebrates.  It also provides a  description of collection methods for various organisms and habitats.   There is a separate section of color illustrations which is useful for identification.  The main part of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of the various organisms.

Published by the McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company in 2002, this book currently sells for nearly $40.  It is a valuable resource for citizen ecologists, fishermen, and anyone interested in what is going on beneath the surface of any body of freshwater.  Despite the hefty price, I highly recommend this book.

10.  Beetle of Eastern North America by Arthur V. Evans (ISBN 9780691133041)

Among other things, I am a beetle fanatic.  When I heard that this book was being published in 2014 I could hardly wait to buy it.  I was not disappointed.

Another book by the Princeton University Press, it is simply the best beetle identification book available for the eastern United States and Canada.  By no stretch of the imagination is this a field guide - it measures 8 inches wide by 10 inches long and has over 550 pages.  Photographs and description of more than 1400 species are included in this book.  It is almost as much a coffee table book as it is field guide - the photographs of the individual beetles are often stunning.  I can admit to looking through this book for hours.  At $35, this book is an incredible value for its size and scope.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.  Any naturalist would be excited to receive this as a holiday gift.

The species in the book are arrange by family - all 115 families found east of the Mississippi River are represented in the book.  Each section of the book begins with a general description of the family and is followed by detailed descriptions of individual species.

That's it for field guides to insects and other invertebrates.  Look for Part 3 (field guides to other animals) later this week.

Wetland Field Studies (19 OCT 2016)

Yesterday (19 Oct), I spent the afternoon with a sixth grade classroom from Fancher Elementary at Mill Pond Park in Mt. Pleasant.  Part of the Michigan Science Standards for Middle School students (including 6th grade) focuses on the interdependence of organisms within an ecosystem.  I believe that it is difficult to understand the interdependence of organisms within an ecosystem, if you first don't know what organisms live within that ecosystem. 

With that thought in mind, we discussed the different zones found in a wetland ecosystem and the species that are present (or absent) in each.  Then the students were turned loose to sample and identify aquatic macroinvertebrates. 

Zones of a wetland

Students surrounded by cattails and fall leaves

Collecting and examining macroinvertebrates

 

Two fish in a washbasin

Students working along the shore

Looking for organisms in a pipette

Because the students were working independently in their small groups, I was able to walk around giving occasional advice and identification help.  I was also able to get a few photographs of the rapidly changing fall colors and a few of wildlife.

Fall colors

 

Canada Geese

Pond reflections

Mating Meadowhawk dragonflies

 

Sumac leaves

Sunlight reflections through sedge leaves

Sun and clouds reflected among the lily pads

Common cattail

Swamp Milkweed seeds

Flocking Canada Geese

A New Damselfly

On Saturday (25 June 2016) I spent part of the day at the Mt. Pleasant Discovery Museum looking collecting and identifying aquatic invertebrates as part of their Backyard Summer Series.  I found a lot of different organisms; I think the final number ended up being seventeen different types.  My favorite moment though was having this damselfly emerge from its final larval exoskeleton as a brand new adult.

Welcome to a great, big, brand-new world.