It's Water-Wise Wednesday with Frannie the Fish! {Macroinvertebrates}

Water quality is very important to Frannie. One way the quality of lakes and rivers can be determined is by exploring the type of macroinvertebrates that live in that body of water. A macroinvertebrate is an organism that is large enough to be seen with the naked eye and does not have a backbone. Some macroinvertebrates are pollution tolerant and can live in polluted water. However, some macroinvertebrates are pollution sensitive and cannot survive in an environment that is polluted. Thus, the macroinvertebrates can be split into three classes based on their sensitivity to pollution: 

Class 1 - Pollution Sensitive 

Class 2 - Moderately Tolerant

Class 3 - Pollution Tolerant 


Frannie and the Girl Scouts had fun exploring a river for the various types of macroinvertebrates that lived there. They used nets and buckets to search for the tiny organisms!

Once a water sample was taken, Frannie and the Girl Scouts were able to look at the macroinvertebrates using magnifying glasses to help them identify which class they were from.

Check out this video of a Damselfly Naiad Frannie and the Girl Scouts found! A Damselfly Naiad is a young damselfly, and it is completely aquatic. It is a Class 2 (moderately tolerant) macroinvertebrate!

Have you ever explored a body of water for macroinvebrates with your Girl Scout troop? Tell us all about your experience here!