WATER QUALITY?ASK THE BUGS!

PRESENTER: AUDREY HAERLE

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST, THE LIMTIACO CONSULTING GROUP

PRESIDENT, HAWAII WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION

https://pmm.nasa.gov/education/images/usgs-water-cycle-diagram

THE IMPORTANCE OF STREAMS

• PREVENT FLOODS

• PROVIDE HABITAT FOR PLANTS AND ANIMALS

• PROVIDE WATER AND FOOD

• IRRIGATION

• TRANSPORT

• RECREATION

• AESTHETIC BEAUTY

• TOURISM

• OTHER ECONOMIC BENEFITS

HAWAII'S STREAMS ARE UNIQUE

• AFFECTED BY HAWAII'S VOLCANIC, ISLAND TOPOGRAPHY

• STEEP WATERSHEDS DUE TO "YOUNG" MOUNTAINS

• SMALL AND SHORT COMPARED TO MANY OF THE LARGER STREAMS ON THE CONTINENTAL

US, DUE TO SMALL LAND AREA

• MORE WATERFALLS THAN MOST AREAS OF THE WORLD

• FREQUENT FLASH FLOODING

• UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT HAS RESULTED IN ENDEMIC SPECIES (ONLY FOUND HERE).

• HAWAIIAN STREAMS HAVE ONLY 5 NATIVE SPECIES OF FISHES (FOUR ENDEMIC, ONE INDIGENOUS,

I.E., NATIVE BUT FOUND ELSEWHERE TOO), TWO SPECIES OF CRUSTACEAN (ALL ENDEMIC) AND

THREE SPECIES OF MOLLUSK (ALL ENDEMIC).

‘O‘opu nōpili

http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dar/habitat/streams/about-streams/

ENVIRONMENTAL WATER QUALITY IN STREAMS

• DETERMINED BY VARIOUS FACTORS:• CHEMICAL PROPERTIES:

• TEMPERATUE• PH• DISSOLVED OXYGEN• NUTRIENTS ETC.

• PHYSICAL PROPERTIES:• STRAIGHT VS. MEANDERING• WIDTH AND DEPTH• BOTTOM SUBSTRATE (ROCKS, SEDIMENT OR CONCRETE?)

• BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES:• PLANTS (NATIVE VS. INVASIVE)• ANIMALS (FISH, INSECTS, ZOOPLANKTON)

ENVIRONMENTAL WATER QUALITY DEFINITIONSAQUATIC MACROINVERTEBRATES

• A GROUP OF ORGANISMS FOUND IN OR NEAR WATER THAT ARE LARGE ENOUGH TO BE SEEN WITH THE NAKED EYE, YET LACK A BACKBONE. THESE INCLUDE THE LARVAE OF DRAGONFLIES, MOSQUITOES, ETC.

BENTHIC

• THAT WHICH CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF A BODY OF WATER OR IN THE DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN.

BIOINDICATOR

• AN ORGANISM WHOSE PRESENCE IN AN ECOSYSTEM IS AN INDICATION OF THE ECOSYSTEM'S HEALTH

RAPID BIOASSESSMENT PROTOCOLS

• A STANDARDIZED SET OF RULES OR INSTRUCTIONS THAT PROVIDE DETAILED INFORMATION ON COLLECTING SPECIMENS FOR BIOLOGICAL SURVEYS AND OTHER DIRECT MEASUREMENTS OF LIFE IN SURFACE WATERS.

POLLUTION TOLERANCE INDEX

• A CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM USED TO DETERMINE THE QUALITY OF WATER WITHIN A NATURAL SYSTEM.

• MACROINVERTEBRATES ARE CLASSIFIED AS POLLUTION TOLERANT, MODERATELY POLLUTION TOLERANT AND POLLUTION INTOLERANT.

• CLASSIFYING COLLECTED SPECIMENS BY THEIR POLLUTION TOLERANCE GIVES A ROUGH BIO-INDICATOR OF THE WATER QUALITY.

WHAT CAN DAMAGE STREAM HEALTH?

WHAT CAN DAMAGE STREAM HEALTH?

http://bwsc.org/COMMUNITY/SWPP/SW_main.asp