NANFA-- F W invertebrates as water quality indicators

Chris Darrow (chris_at_daylilygarden.com)
Thu, 09 Dec 1999 11:02:26 +0000

I would like to impress upon NANFA members that Freshwater
invertebrates should be considered important because of their ability to
act as indicators of water quality. By looking at the presence or
absense of certain invertebrates one can get an indication of the health
and possibly even the specific ailment that a bidy of water suffers
from. This obviously could be of use when trying to determine why a fish
species is also present or absent at a particular site.
So to those of you NANFA members who feel particularly strongly about
species preservation (aren't we all) and water quality evaluation this
could be very useful.
check http://ceisntsv.was.epa.gov/atlas/bioindicators/benthosclean.html
for a good example of this.
additionally certain snail species listed in The F W Snails of N Y were
found to be quite intolerant of various environmental conditions.

Please forgive me if this is common knowledge or simplifying information
I'm just trying to incorporate the discussion of FW invertebrates into
the bigger picture; Fish Conservation.
Chris

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