Monitoring Macroinvertebrates

Students from across the state help us study the water quality at Prairie Ridge's pond by collecting and counting aquatic animals called macroinvertebrates. Different macroinvertebrates have different tolerances for poor water quality. By recording the type and amount of macroinvertebrates we can make assumptions about the quality of the water. Each species of macroinvertebrate is assigned a numeric score based on how sensitive it is to water quality. By totaling the numeric scores we can then get a value for the quality of the water, this is called a biotic index. The quality of the water in your community is determined the same way.

Students collecting macroinvertebrates

We record the data that the students gather and use it to get an idea of the water quality in our pond.