"Rapid Bioassessment" Notes

Notes for your Summary of the "Rapid Bioassessement" of our Mill River - 11/9/2010

¶1: What is a "bioassessment"?
• collect bugs (benthic macroinvertebrates = riverbed-dwelling insects you can see)
• collect from 3 different sites on a 30 ft stretch of our river
• return to same site each year to collect; report data ro Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

¶2: Procedure
1. with a kicknet, collected samples
2. kept 3 different bins, one for each site
3. Brought bins inside
   1. with spoons, we ordered bugs into ice cube trays
   2. refined our ordering using a field guide key to identify specimens accurately
4. labeled each sample, added alcohol to the containers, and sent to DEP

¶3: What our results tell us:
1. found more than 5 of 2 kinds of instect that need a lot of Oxygen (O₂) to survive
2. shows "exceptionally good" water quality in our River: there's much O₂ in our river here at school!