A member of River Watch, an environmental impact study group, Martha Cheo came to Mary Alice’s to sample the Vlykill Creek which feeds into the Plattekill Creek (in my back yard) today. It’s raining pretty hard, but who cares since you wade around in a creek anyway – wet is wet. I joined them and was back in my element helping to test and sample the stream. Martha had a really neat digital device that read all the chemical info (we had kits that did it – about 15 minutes effort for each test – this takes 2 minutes, and stores the data). We estimated the width and depth of the stream. Mary alice and I estimated the flow. Martha estimated canopy cover, took pictures, and then Martha and I gathered ‘critters’. All of them with the exception of a beetle and the leech, were larvae (see below). Martha said that Mary Alice’s stream seems to have no impact – a good thing – from her initial assessment. About an hour later … OK- home, dry and warm :0). That was great fun – love that type of stuff. I should have been an environmentalist. Thanks so much for including me. Heres are pictures of what we saw:
(click images for photo credits)
Water (Predacious) Diving Beetle (all these critters below are pretty voracious predators)
Water penny beetle and larvae. The larvae stick really well to surfaces, but I guess the colder water may have dislodged them.
Mayfly adult and larvae (note the fuzzy gills on the sides of the larva).
Dobsonfly larvae and adults (nasty fellas, now you can see why)
Stonefly adult
(This website has some beautiful images on it)
Stonefly larvae
