Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
Parks where protocol will be implemented
- Big Hole National Battlefield
- City of Rocks National Reserve
- Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve
- Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument
- John Day Fossil Beds National Monument
- Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
- Nez Perce National Historical Park
- Whitman Mission National Historic Site
Importance / Issues
- During the vital sign prioritization process the Upper Columbia Basin Network identified the sampling of waterbodies within park units for macroinvertebrate community structure as the top water quality monitoring priority.
- Aquatic macroinvertebrates are good indicators of ecosystem condition because they occur in all waterbodies, integrate point, nonpoint, pulse, and press disturbances, are trophically diverse, and are less mobile than fishes. Macroinvertebrate communities are also affected both by conditions in local stream reaches and those within the watershed. The sampling of aquatic macroinvertebrates is reasonably efficient compared to other biotic indicators (e.g., algae and fish), and consequently, is relatively cost-effective.
- A survey of macroinvertebrates will provide a cost-useful baseline sampling of water quality designed to both identify park waterbodies with impaired water quality and provide baseline data on community structure and composition for an important aquatic resource. Aquatic macroinvertebrates will be sampled directly from select Upper Columbia Basin Network wadeable streams and the status of each body will be assessed using well developed indices of invertebrate community structure that indicate relative water quality compared to reference or unimpaired waterbodies within a region (Barbour et al. 1999).
- Aquatic macroinvertebrate monitoring will be conducted as part of the Integrated Water Quality Monitoring Protocol.
Monitoring Objectives
- What is the status and long term trend in aquatic macroinvertebrate abundance and assemblage composition in selected UCBN streams?
- Do aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages sampled within UCBN streams indicate polluted or otherwise impaired water quality?
- Do aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages sampled within UCBN streams indicate "pristine" or "reference" conditions according to regional criteria established by EPA and the states of Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Washington?
Measures
Species and functional group composition and abundance (counts).
Management Applications
Information gathered from this monitoring will be used to:- Identify priority riparian restoration areas.
- Improve managers understanding of the effects of transient (and difficult to sample) events such as floods or chemical pulses on aquatic community structure and ecosystem processes.
- Contribute to the overall measure of water quality.
Protocol Development & Status
The protocol was approved in 2009, and monitoring is underway in conjunction with the water chemistry monitoring.
Contact Information
Eric Starkey
Aquatic Biologist
Upper Columbia Basin Network
University of Idaho
Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
Moscow, ID 83844-1136
Email
Document Links
- Integrated Water Quality Protocol and Standard Operating Procedures (link to Reports & Pubs page)
- Resource Brief (link to Reports & Pubs page)
- Integrated Water Quality Protocol Development Summary (link to IWQ Protocol page)