Tag: Aquatic Animals

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Aquatic Macroinvertebrates

Caddisfly Larvae - Hydropsyche Courtesy USGS
Caddisfly Larvae – Hydropsyche
Courtesy USGS
Today’s Wild About Utah is in both Spanish and English. The Spanish version is read by Carlos Ramos and can be found online or you can listen to the Spanish version this Wednesday evening between 9:01-9:06pm.

I love people who love bugs. I love how quickly these fine folks can turn a creature you have to squint to notice into things to fear, love, or be in awe of. You can imagine then, that I jumped at the chance to host an outreach event at Stokes Nature Center with Dr. Katy Stemmler. As an Aquatic Ecologist and Postdoctoral Researcher at USU, Katy loves all types of bugs that live in the water and on a late July Saturday, she brings me and some thirty-odd attendees into the amazing world of aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Aquatic macroinvertebrates are what scientists like Katy call all sorts of bugs that live in the water and don’t have a backbone like us humans. This group includes aquatic worms, leeches, beetles and some of Dr. Stemmler’s favorites-the mayflies and caddisflies.

As these bugs live on the river floor bottom-or the benthic zone, collecting them requires kicking up rocks and sediment while holding a net downstream to catch any critters that get kicked free but letting any fine sediment through. Once you transport what gets netted to a shallow bin of water you can now watch these beauties up close. At first, our water samples from the Logan River don’t reveal much, maybe some algae and some worms. However, Katy points to what appears to be just a tiny tube, about 1/2in in length but barely an ⅛ of an inch wide. Soon two legs and a head poke out of this tiny stick. Dr. Stemmler tells us this is a caddisfly larva and she points to her earring where there is a similarly-small brown tube hanging in the middle of a gold hoop.

Katy excitedly tells us that in their aquatic-living and larval form, some caddisflies spin silk to build protective cases around their body like this one we’re looking at. The silk is used to connect rocks, plant material, and even sand to their body to keep them safe from predators. Sometimes caddisfly larvae don’t spin cases but instead use their silk to form an underwater net to catch food that’s flowing in the river.

Katy tells us that eventually, this caddisfly we see on this day will transform and leave its protective case to become an adult, where it will take on a whole second life. As an adult it will look almost moth-like and will fly above the water, leaving its benthic life behind.

Just after Katy finishes describing the caddisfly, one of the other participants huddled around the water bin asks why there’s a winged insect acting like its trying to wiggle out of a too-tight pair of pants “Oh Great!” Katy exclaims and explains we’re watching a mayfly emerge as an adult. She points to her shirt where the same species of mayfly is artfully drawn and explains that this mayfly is entering its first and possibly last day of adulthood as this group only lives as an adult for a few hours to a few days.

I love learning about bugs, but I especially love learning about bugs from people who love bugs. At the end of the talk, it’s clear Dr. Stemmler could talk for many more hours about her beloved benthic macroinvertebrates, but it’s also late July and the sun is strong. Even in the chilly water of the Logan River we’re sweating and I find myself wishing I could be swimming along the river bottom hopefully avoiding any caddisfly feeding nets.

My name is Kate Hunter, Director of Education at Stokes Nature Center, and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
English Version: Kate Hunter, Education, Stokes Nature Center https://logannature.org/staff/
Spanish Version: Carlos Ramos, Facilities, Stokes Nature Center https://logannature.org/staff/
Images: Courtesy USGS, https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/caddisfly-hydropsyche-sp
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/, Courtesy & © Friend Weller, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller
Text: Kate Hunter & Carlos Ramos, https://logannature.org/staff
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Kate Hunter https://wildaboututah.org/author/kate-hunter/
Wild About Utah Pieces by Carlos Ramos https://wildaboututah.org/author/carlos-ramos/

Friday 5: Caddisfly Case Diversity, Chris Goforth a.k.a. The Dragonfly Woman, February 24, 2012, https://thedragonflywoman.com/2012/02/24/caddisfly-case-diversity/

Hamrsky, Jan, Net-spinning caddisfly larva (Trichoptera, Hydropsychidae), Flickr Account – Jan Hamrsky, https://www.flickr.com/photos/janhamrsky/5979065987/in/album-72157631612158714

Larese-Casanova, Mark, Aquatic Insects, Harbingers of Health, Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/aquatic-insects-harbingers-of-health/

Larese-Casanova, Mark, Watershed Wildlife Field Book, Utah Master Naturalist Program, Utah State University Cooperative Extension, rev 2014, https://extension.usu.edu/utahmasternaturalist/files/course-materials/watershed-wildlife-pages.pdf

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Hands on Stoneflies and Sculpin

Hands on Stoneflies and Sculpin: Exploring the Logan River Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Exploring the Logan River
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS)
Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Harvest Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer https://edithbowen.usu.edu/ Benthic Macroinvertebrate Harvest
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS)
Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer

Merriam-Webster Benthic: of, relating to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water

Student with a Stonefly Nymph Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer https://edithbowen.usu.edu/ Student with a Stonefly Nymph
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS)
Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer

Stonefly Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer https://edithbowen.usu.edu/ Stonefly
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS)
Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer

Sculpin Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS) Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer https://edithbowen.usu.edu/ Sculpin
Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS)
Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer

I remember my father on wintery Saturdays mounting his fly tying vice on the kitchen table, and then, from the cavern under the stairs, he’d emerge with his hooks, pheasant and peacock feathers, and other magical threads. I’d watch him spin intricate flies but never realized as a child that they were imitations of creatures I would meet and teach in the wild. When he took me to lakes and rivers to fish, we just used worms and pink marshmallows.

On an animal adaptation learning journey at Wood Camp along the Logan River this fall, our Edith Bowen Laboratory School first graders turned over river rocks, sweeping up all sorts of aquatic critters with nets and buckets to then probe playfully with tweezers and bare fingers. Trip Armstrong, Assistant Director of the National Aquatic Monitoring Center at Utah State University’s Department of Watershed Sciences, led our young investigators and several adult volunteers in identifying these benthic macroinvertebrates, especially the stonefly nymphs we found in every scoop.

These especially intrigued the children because they resemble something from outer space scurrying about on six legs. Stoneflies, both the nymphs and the adult insects, are large compared to mayfly and other critters you find in a river sample, so they stand out in a crowd. The adults have long wings, thus the Greek name Plecoptera meaning “braided wings,” but they are known to be poor fliers. The larvae have two tails or what biologists call cerci, while mayflies have three. Stoneflies have two hooks on their legs; mayflies have one. Stoneflies like oxygen-rich water flowing through their gills along their thorax and under their legs. We noticed some doing push-ups in the bin of river water, indicating it was time to return them to their habitat. Both mayfly and stonefly nymphs are pollution-sensitive, so finding them in such large numbers indicated that this part of the river was very healthy.

When a student approached from the river’s edge with a larger specimen cupped in her hands, I was stunned and a little spooked. “It’s a sculpin,” Armstrong said. These are bottom-dwelling fish that some say are basically big mouths with tails and have unflattering nicknames like “double uglies,” yet I learned later they are quite common. I’d just never met one. In fact, although biologists have determined that the Utah Lake sculpin has been extinct since the 1930s, the native Bear Lake sculpin and sculpin living in the Logan River are sources of food for the Bonneville Cutthroat and other trout.

I guess the lesson, as a wise first grader reminded me this week during our opinion writing session, is “Don’t yuck somebody’s yum.” Stoneflies and sculpin: flyfishers and bigger fish love them. I’m thankful for opportunities to teach in Utah’s wild places because every time I do, I learn something new.

I am Shannon Rhodes, and I’m wild about Utah.

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Edith Bowen Laboratory School (EBLS)
Experiential Learning Eric Newell Director & Photographer https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Audio: Courtesy & © J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin
Text: Shannon Rhodes, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Shannon Rhodes

Additional Reading

Beaudreau, Andrea. 2017. Why I Love Sculpins (and Why You Should Too). Coastal Fisheries Ecology Lab. https://annebeaudreau.com/2017/09/05/why-i-love-sculpins/

Bouchard, R.W. Jr. 2004. Guide to Aquatic Invertebrates of the Upper Midwest. 2004. https://dep.wv.gov/WWE/getinvolved/sos/Documents/Benthic/UMW/Plecoptera.pdf

Curtis, Jennifer Keats with Stroud Water Research Center. 2020. Arbordale Publishing. https://www.arbordalepublishing.com/bookpage.php?id=CreekCritters

Dickey, Amy. Water Quality and Macroinvertebrates. https://deq.utah.gov/communication/news/water-quality-macroinvertebrates

Larese-Casanova, Mark. 2013. Aquatic Insects, Harbingers of Health. Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/aquatic-insects-harbingers-of-health/

Leavitt, Shauna. 2017. Bear Lake Sculpin. Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/bear-lake-sculpin-cottus-extensus/

National Aquatic Monitoring Center. https://qcnr.usu.edu/research/namc/ (was https://namc-usu.org/)

Pennsylvania League of Angling Youth. 2006. PLAY. https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/education/activities-education-portal/aquatic-macroinvertebrates.html (formerly: https://www.fishandboat.com/LearningCenter/PennsylvaniaLeagueofAnglingYouthPLAY/Documents/AquaticMacrosEnaElpaMayflyPondstream_Allpages.pdf)

Stroud Water Research Center. Macroinvertebrate Resources. https://stroudcenter.org/macros/

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Five Aquatic Species You May Not Know Live in Utah. Mottled Sculpin. https://wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks/962-r657-29–government-records-access-management-act.html

Utah State University Extension. Bugs Don’t Bug Me. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/extension_curall/1170/ (formerly: https://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/files-ou/Publications/AllBugs.pdf)

Zarbock, William. 1952. Life History of the Utah Sculpin. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8659%281951%2981%5B249%3ALHOTUS%5D2.0.CO%3B2