Aquatic Biology Workshop for River Watch students

June 13, 2012:     Nine River Watchers learned about a different type of water monitoring – BioMonitoring or Biological Monitoring.  In the river at Hornsby Bend, near the AYRW EcoHouse, we collected samples of the fish with a seine and samples of benthic macroinvertebrates (bottom dwelling water bugs that you can see with your eyes) with dip nets.  Increasingly, monitoring professionals are using biological assessments to give a greater understanding of the longer-term quality of water at each site, rather than the snap shot given by the chemical and meter-based readings traditionally used.