Macros!

This morning, we went to Woodcock Creek to test the water quality and to catch aquatic macroinvertebrates! We went in the water in small groups with large yellow nets to catch them. We put the nets at an angle and placed rocks at the bottom to hold it in place so no organisms would pass under the net. Then, one person kicked the rocks at the bottom of the creek to make sure we could catch the organisms living underneath them. After that, we took the nets out and used tweezers to pick off the macroinvertebrates we could see on the net into a tray full of water. We then identified the organisms we saw with a dichotomous key. It was really interesting to see the biodiversity because we can't see everything living in the creek with the naked eye. I've never seen or heard of most of the things we saw! An interesting thing we found was a whirligig beetle larva. The adult beetles actually smell like fruit loops! Overall, it was really cool to be outside in the creek and observing organisms I've never seen before! I'm really excited to go to the creek again in the next few days!!