By: Emily Ward and Jera Dills
Each year, Alabama Extension and the Auburn University School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Aquatic Sciences host Fish Camp for high school students to explore water resources related career opportunities.
High school students and graduate students from all over the US attended Auburn Youth Programs “Fish Camp” led by Dr. David Cline.
The group joined AWW staff on Wednesday, June 12 to conduct stream biomonitoring on Parkerson Mill Creek off Sandhill Rd in Auburn. Sergio gave the group a demonstration on how to use the equipment and best practices for catching macroinvertebrates.
We broke out into two groups and headed in different directions on each side of the Sandhill Rd bridge crossing. We found macroinvertebrates from each sensitivity class.
Macroinvertebrates are divided into groups by their sensitivity to pollution. Group 1 is the most sensitive and group 3 is the least sensitive.
From Group 1, we found Caddisflies which are featured on the AWW logo! From Group 2, we found an Asiatic clam, Blackflies, and Filtering Caddisflies. From Group 3, we found aquatic worms and midges. In total, we collected 9 taxa and 17 cumulatively. The results of the stream quality assessment were good.
We can conclude from our survey that this waterbody is healthy due to the variety of macroinvertebrates found!
