Identify the Creepy Crawlers in Our Ponds & Streams: Resources

Resources

Materials to consider:
Certainly feel free to add or omit to suit your own needs

FIELDWORK

Catch Nets
Buckets to hold live specimens
Small Jar w/alcohol-to preserve select specimens
tweezers (but fingers will do)
Appropriate "wet wear"

CLASSROOM

Microscope(s) (stereo dissecting)- per team and one for projecting
Video Camera to mount on microscope eyepiece.
Laptop computer- to connect video to and capture/record images
LCD Projector- connected to either video cam or laptop so entire class can see projected images (Overhead Projector = plan-B)
Trays and ice cube trays to hold water samples with specimens
Air pump and bubbling stone (aquarium) to oxygenate water & keep specimens alive until return to habitat.
Empty Petri dishes to place samples in to look at on microscope stage

WEB

ENGAGE

RATIONALE & PREP FOR COLLECTING TRIP(S)

-->COPYRIGHT IN THE CLASSROOM CONSIDERATIONS

--> Stream Study - University of Virginia

Why Study Macroinvertebrates Anyway?

--> Streamwatch New South Wales Australia

Streamwatch manual-pdf

--> Stream Study - University of Virginia

Sample Record & Water Quality Assessment Form

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EXPLORE

BIOLOGICAL KEYS

-->Key to Pond Insects of Coastal Maine

--> Stream Study - University of Virginia

Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Identification Key

- online

--> The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre – Victoria Australia

Identify Your Bug KEY

-online

--> New York Department of Environmental Conservation

Photo Key to Aquatic Macroinvertebrates

-->Illinois RiverWatch Network: Citizen Scientist Resources Illinois USA

RiverWatch Macroinvertebrate ID Key

- pdf booklet

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EXPLAIN

IDENTIFICATION & REFERENCE -- IMAGES & VIDEO

--> Aquatic Entomology: The Fishermen's and Ecologists' Illustrated Guide to Insects and Their Relatives -- By W. Patrick McCafferty

- Google Book exerpt

--> The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre – Victoria Australia

Identification & Ecology of Australian Freshwater Invertebrates Listings

Interactive guides with colour digital imagery to assist in the identification of aquatic invertebrates -pdf files

general macroinvertebrates

Insecta (insects)

Coleoptera (beetles)

Diptera (flies)

Ephemeroptera (mayflies)

Hemiptera (bugs)

Megaloptera (alderflies, dobsonflies)

Neuroptera (lacewings, spongeflies)

Odonata (damselflies, dragonflies)

Plecoptera (stoneflies)

Trichoptera (caddisflies)

Crustacea (crustaceans)

Malacostraca (malacostracans)

Amphipoda (side swimmers)

Decapoda (yabbies, crayfish, shrimps, prawns, crabs)

Isopoda (water slaters)

--> Creek Connections-partnership between Allegheny College and regional K-12 schools in Northwest Pennsylvania, Southwest New York, and the Pittsburgh area.

Specific Aquatic Insect Fact Sheets Index

Alderfly

Backswimmer

Blackfly Larva

Case-building Caddisfly Larva

Cranefly Larva

Crayfish

Dameselfly Nymph

Dobsonfly Larva

Dragonfly Nymph

Fishfly Larva

Leech