The boys and I were able to join another group stream monitoring in Burke. Even though it was cold, we had a blast. We were overjoyed to have collected 535 macro invertebrates! We got to see first hand what a healthy stream looks like and are making plans to find ways to help our own stream so that one day we can post about how healthy it is.
The True Fly is a aquatic larva of a fly that acts like Harry Houdini. NO matter where you put it, it always tried to escape. Was it looking for the way out or for it's next meal? With a head that looked like it's tail only it knew where it was going. The True Fly in the picture is currently visiting the Net Spinners next door. -by Jonah Sometimes good things come in very tiny packages without a backbone. Today we learned about freshwater benthic macroinvertabrates that inhabit Sideburn Branch Stream. Some of our favorites were the Damselfly, the Net-spinner Caddisfly, and the True Flies. We learned that regardless of how we feel about the dredging displacing the local animals, it is desperately needed. The sediment from all of the run off in our area has made conditions that don't support the variety of life needed to have a healthy stream. After collecting over 300 macroinvertabrates, we realized that Sideburn Branch Stream has unacceptable conditions ecologically. One way to correct that is by dredging the sediment from the lake. We have plans to reduce our own ecological footprint and spread the word, but for now we are happy to have been a part of the biological survey. -by Anna |
The KIMSWe are a homeschooling family in VA trying to make a difference in the world. Archives
March 2018
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