Grades 3-6 Creek Critter Activity Page 1 ter Protect Ot Ou lly r W ea a R t e e r W ! Creek Critters! Science With Spokane County Water Resources Help the trout f This belongs to: ind the ca ly! Fish, like the Redband Trout, eat aquatic bugs known as AQUATIC ddisf MACROINVERTEBRATES (macros for short). Macros live at the bottom of streams, rivers and lakes for most of their lives; some even live several years! The types of macros you find in a waterway can tell you how clean or dirty the water is! Scientists do field studies to collect and identify macros to monitor how healthy our local waterways are. Can you think of some macros you’ve seen before? Aquatic= live in the water Macro = large enough to see by the naked eye invertebrates = animals with no backbone Macroinvertebrates Using the word bank, write the name of the life phase on the blue line. DRAGONFLY LIFE CYCLE COLOR ME! Macro Life Cycle Most of the macros you’ll find in creeks are juvenile (child) larvae or pupa that look very different from adults. Many live most of their lives underwater, until their final molting stage when their exoskeleton cracks open and wings emerge to become flying adults for the Word Bank last part of their life cycles. Laying eggs Larva/nymph Adult Egg Molting 6 months Lives in water 3-4 years before hatching in the larval stage Eggs Lives 2-4 months on Molting into an land as adults adult with wings Grades 3-6 Creek Critter Activity Page 2 Table Manners! Freshwater Food Chain Macros have specialized mouth pieces to help them gather food or hunt. Draw arrows to show who eats who. Draw a line from the feeding habit to the correct mouth. Scraper Use chewing mouthparts Sun Minnow to shred, cut, bite and bore Caddisfly leaves and plants that fall into the water. Mosquito Larvae Collector Heron Physically gathers or filters Dragonfly algae, bacteria, feces and plants from the water or bottom. Dragonfly Nymph Biter Adult Trout Predators that chase, Algae Black Fly Larvae capture and kill prey. Common Anatomy of Macros (Body Parts) Who AM I ? Creeping Water Bug Water Creeping Water Boatman Water Read the clue and then draw a line to match it with Mayfly * Mayfly Worm who you think it is! Creeping Water Bug Water Creeping I protect my soft body by Water Boatman Water 1 building a home of small rocks Mayfly * Mayfly Common Stream Critters Critters Common Stream © Christine Elder. All drawings created by observing live specimens from local creeks local specimens from by observing live created All drawings Elder. © Christine Worm * These insects will transform into winged fliers when they mature when they fliers winged into * These insects will transform Beetle Larvae Beetle or twigs that I drag around. Stonefly * Stonefly Wherever I am, that’s home. Hellgrammite * Hellgrammite Mite Water Boatman 2 I use my oar-shaped hind Common Stream Critters Critters Common Stream © Christine Elder. All drawings created by observing live specimens from local creeks local specimens from by observing live created All drawings Elder. © Christine * These insects will transform into winged fliers when they mature when they fliers winged into * These insects will transform Beetle Larvae Beetle Water Boatman Water Creeping Water Bug Water Creeping legs to swim. I don’t have Stonefly * Stonefly Table Manner Answers: Caddisfly - Scraper, Dragonfly - Biter, Black Fly Larvae - Collector Black Fly Larvae - Biter, Dragonfly - Scraper, Caddisfly Manner Answers: Table Worm gills; I carry * Caddisfly my air supply Beetle Mayfly * * Mayfly Hellgrammite * Hellgrammite Dragonfly* Dragonfly* with me under my shell-like Collect Your Own Macros! Mite covering. We’ve included a net, laminated field guide, and © Christine Elder. All drawings created by observing live specimens from local creeks local from specimens live observing by created drawings All Elder. Christine © magnifying glass so you can do your own collection Dragonfly 3 Giant Water Bug Water Giant Alderfly * I have jaws that can reach at a local creek, lake or pond. Just bring any Beetle Larvae Beetle Fly * Common Stream Critters Critters Stream Common Caddisfly * Caddisfly Stonefly * * Stonefly * These insects will transform into winged fliers when they mature they when fliers winged into transform will insects These * container or bucket, light colored, or clear is best, Beetle out and snap my prey, Damselfly * Dragonfly* Dragonfly* so you can see the macros. An old ice cube tray and Mite including small fish and Hellgrammite * Hellgrammite tadpoles! I’m the greatest spoon works great for sorting the different types you find. Always go with an adult. hunter of all the macros! Rat Tailed Maggot Visit our website for step-by-step Giant Water Bug Water Giant Alderfly * Beetle Caddisfly * * Caddisfly Dragonfly* Dragonfly* Fly * 4 I have a long, rat-like directions on how to collect your breathing tail. It works Damselfly * own macros! like a snorkel, allowing Fly * * Fly me to breathe air on www.spokanecounty.org/wrc Alderfly * * Alderfly Giant Water Bug Water Giant Go to Resource Library > Teacher / Parents > Caddisfly the surface while I’m Damselfly * * Damselfly Water Science Kits underwater. Who am I? Water Boatman = 2, Dragonfly=3, Rat Tailed Maggot = 4, Caddisly 1 Rat = 2, Dragonfly=3, Boatman Who am I? Water Food Chain: algae to sun, mosquito larvae to algae, dragonfly to mosquito larvae, minnow to dragonfly, trout to minnow and dragonfly, Heron to Trout to Heron dragonfly, and minnow to trout dragonfly, to minnow larvae, mosquito to dragonfly algae, to larvae mosquito sun, to algae Chain: Food INSTRUCTIONS (For Cut-out Bug Pieces) Grades 3 - 6 Creek Critter Game! Hello Stream Scientist, yes, YOU! We need YOUR help. We are about to release Red Band Trout that we’ve raised over the winter. We’ve narrowed down our release to two streams. Your job is to identify the macroinvertebrates in both creeks to determine which is healthier, and better for our fish release. Are YOU ready? Start with Cricket Creek (red pieces). Use the laminated Dichotomous Key and pictures to identify 1 each cut-out bug you find. Keep track of what you find using your data sheet (on the back). Repeat with Crooked Creek. to 9 ho mo Creek 1 = Cricket Creek ic u collect and Identify all of the RED Macro pieces D s 9 Creek 2 = crooked Creek This is a BIG word collect and Identify all of the Green Macro pieces but it just means that when things are very After you have identified every macroinvertebrate, different, we will divide KEY 2 use the data sheet (on the back) to calculate the overall water quality score. them into groups to organize them. A guide with ANSWER: Which creek is the healthiest for our trout? pictures to help you. 3 Find the answer key on our website to see if you were right! www.spokanecounty.org/wrc Go to Resource Library > Teacher / Parents > Water Science Kits Macros and the water you drink! Some areas of the Spokane WHoA, COOL! Background info. to help with the game. river and local lakes drain MACROS TELL US HOW HEALthY WATER IS! into the aquifer, in other Since macros live most of their lives underwater, the types and amounts areas the aquifer seeps into we find in waterways can tell us how healthy or unhealthy the water is. the surface water. How clean All macros get sorted into three groups based on how sensitive they are the water is on the surface to unhealthy water. can be an indicator of how clean the water is below. Macros are one way to help us know how healthy the water is on the surface! Stonefly Crayfish Leech Group 1 Sensitive Group 2 Somewhat Sensitive Group 3 Tolerant Live in Healthy Water Live in Unhealthy water clear, clean, cold water Muddy, polluted, slow-moving Biotic Index Data Sheet Reproduce for use Date: Investigator Names: Time: AM/PM Leaf Pack Location: Reproduce for use 1 Biotic Index Data Sheet Date: Investigator Names: This Data Sheet is Adapted from Stroud Research Creek Critter Game! Data Sheet Grades 3-6 Center Materials. https://stroudcenter.org/ Time: AM/PM Leaf Pack Location: 9 Creek 1 Data: Cricket Creek Water Quality Score is: Instructions2 Use this data sheet to add a tally 1 Sum of All 1 mark to each macro you find. Individuals (Add the Count up the tally marksvalues in eachfrom 2 all boxes next column and write the total.to the taxa names) 3 Multiply the total by the water 3 2 quality value for that group. Sum of All 5 Add together the numbers in 4 Individuals Pollution each box to find the overall (Add the Tolerance 4 valuesscore from for your creek! UseIndex the (PTI) all boxesPollution next Tolerance Key below to the taxa Score Reproduce fornames)to use determine the creek’s(Add water the three quality rating. Index Values) BioticCalculating the Index Biotic Index Data Sheet 3 x 3 = Sort the macroinvertebratesx 2 = into taxa groups. x 1 = POLLUTION TOLERANCE KEY Date: Investigatortotal Names: total 5 POLLUTION TOLERANCE total 1. Count the number of individual 4. Multiply the Number of TAXA by 6PollutionINDEX RATING Time: AM/PM Leafmacroinvertebrates Pack Location: for each taxa. Record the the weighting factor (3, 2 or 1) at SCORE RATING quantity in the box to the left of the taxa name. the bottom of the column to obtain Tolerance23 or 4 9 Creek 2 Data: Crooked Creek2. Determine Water the Sum Quality of All Individuals Score byis: the Index Value for each Sensitivity Index (PTI) Excellent Group. Indexmore (PTI) adding the numbers in the boxes next to all Score 1 of the the taxa names.