Biological Sampling

June 20, 2017 | Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling
Five River Watchers had the privilege of performing biological sampling with Todd Jackson from the City of Austin Watershed Protection Department. The students gained valuable knowledge from Todd as they gathered benthic macroinvertebrates from Barton Creek at Lost Creek Boulevard. Benthic macroinvertebrates are small animals living among stones, logs, sediments, and aquatic plants on the bottom of streams, rivers and lakes. They are large enough to see with the naked eye (macro) and have no backbone (invertebrate). These organisms are commonly used as indicators of the biological condition of waterbodies. They are reliable indicators because they spend all or most of their lives in water, are easy to collect, and differ in their tolerance to pollution, allowing researchers to compare water quality and ecosystem health in different creeks or in different parts of the same creek.