What are Benthic Macro invertebrates?
If we break down benthic macro invertebrates into segments, benthic means bottom dwelling, macro means large enough to see with the naked eye, and invertebrate means and organism without a backbone. Benthic macro invertebrates are of viewed and identified in their larval aquatic state.
Why are Benthic Macro invertebrates important?
Benthic macro invertebrates are important indicators of the ecological health of waterways since they have limited mobility, thus they are easy to collect and commonly exposed to localized pollution sources. In addition, these bugs are differentiable in regards to their presence with various levels of water quality: When the biology within a body of water is in a heathy state, it is a good indicator of a conducive chemical and physical make water for sustaining life. EPT and overall taxa richness are some of the most telling and yet rudimentary metrics, which includes tallying the different taxa identified. The presence EPTs indicates good water quality: Ephemeroptera (Mayfly), Plecoptera (Stonefly), and Trichoptera (Caddisfly). The presence if these taxa is commonly correlated to low concentrations of heavy metals and a relatively high pH.…show more content… When sampling benthic macro invertebrates at Mineral Creek in Silverton we identified one type of stonefly and a midge, which indicated the presence of 1 taxa within EPT, which makes Mineral Creek at Silverton a 1 on the EPT richness scale. Whereas, when sampling benthic macro invertebrates at the Animas River in Silverton above the confluence with Cement and Mineral Creeks we identified 3 types of stoneflies, one type of caddis fly, and one type of midge, which makes the Animas river at Silverton a 2 on the EPT richness
