ENVI1009 - Merri Creek Study Area - Science Assignment Help

Assignment Task

1 EXCURSION LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND AIMS

This field trip introduces you to flowing water habitats and sampling techniques used to study and assess the ecology of rivers and streams.

The activities and associated assessments align with the Ecology course learning objectives 1-4, particularly 3 and 4, that by the end of this course you should be able to:

1. Explain the key structural components and energy flows for a variety of ecosystems and the principles of population and community ecology.

2. Explain major factors affecting ecosystems and describe the main features of ecosystem degradation, management of species and habitat, and ecosystem health assessment.

3. Select and apply appropriate methods to survey terrestrial and aquatic habitats for their main biological components and environmental quality.

4. Analyse and critically evaluate ecological data.

The aims of this excursion are for you to:

1. Investigate the physical and biological characteristics of different types of habitat in Merri Creek and determine if they are as expected based on ecological understanding of flowing inland waters;

2. Calculate a range of metrics used to indicate ecological condition of flowing waters and draw conclusions regarding the condition of the Merri Creek site;

3. Become familiar with some methods used by government and other organisations to monitor flowing waters in Australia and guide their management.

2 MERRI CREEK STUDY AREA

2.1 Acknowledgement of Country

Merri Creek flows through the Country of the Wurundjeri people. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and ongoing Custodians of these unceded lands and waters, and the significance of Merri Creek to the Wurundjeri people. We respectfully acknowledge their Ancestors and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

2.2 Merri Creek today

Merri Creek flows south from the Great Dividing Range for about 60 km to its confluence with the Yarra River at Dights Falls in Abbotsford. Water along some channels is now piped and some wetlands and swampy areas have been drained and converted into channels or drains (Figure 3). Much of the catchment has been cleared of its native grassland and woodland. Land use in the catchment is mainly rural, but does change from upstream to downstream, going from pastoral to industrial to urban and residential.

2.3 Riffles, runs and pools

The section of the creek that you will be sampling contains a range of habitat types typical of running waters: pools, riffles and runs (Figure 4). These different features are easy to distinguish in the field and tend to support different aquatic plants and animals. Most aquatic organisms in Australian running waters can live in a wide range of habitats, so you will often find some overlap in the species composition of riffle, pool and run habitats (Boulton et al. 2014).

Riffles are areas of turbulent, comparatively shallow and fast-flowing waters, whereas pools are deeper and slower-flowing. Turbulence enhances the diffusion of gases into the water, so flowing waters often have higher dissolved oxygen concentrations than still waters, and riffles higher concentrations than pools. Runs are like pools in that their water surfaces are both smooth, but water in runs flows faster.

Here are some of the macroinvertebrate fauna (examples only) that you might expect to find in riffle habitats (The Waterbug Company, 2010):

• coarse substrate: predatory stoneflies, dragonflies, crayfish, net-spinning caddis

• gravels: predatory maggots, worms, chironomids

• depositional areas: vulture caddis, other caddis

• leaf packs: amphipods, some caddis

• wood: shrimp, elmids, some chironomids

• plants: amphipods, damselflies

Vegetation along edges in slower moving waters, may support a faunal assemblage to that found in fast flowing riffles.

3 FIELD PROCEDURES

3.1 Cohorts and teams and data responsibilities

• You will be assigned to one of two cohorts (Morning or Afternoon) of up to about 60 students each

• Each cohort will be divided into 6 teams. • Each team will be assigned to sample at a riffle or pool along the creek.

• IMPORTANT: Each team will be responsible for the data they collect and for entering those data into the main spreadsheet that everyone will use to complete their reports.

• Data custodianship and data quality are incredibly important and can make or break a piece of research. Within your teams, you will need to nominate someone to look after and enter the different kinds of data. Each of these people will also need the site and team information that corresponds to their data. Make sure you have agreed who these people are, that they each leave with all the data they’ll need to enter the data into the electronic spreadsheet (which everyone will use to write their reports), and that these data are correct and legible

3.2 Equipment

Each student team needs the following:
• 2 poles
• 2 pairs of chest-high waders
• 2 life vests (personal flotation devices)
• 1 dip-net
• 1 bucket to hold the macroinvertebrate sample
• 1 macroinvertebrate sorting kit (plastic spoons, plastic pipettes, forceps, some small clear vials, magnifying glass (4X magnification), 2 short transparent rulers)
• 2 large white trays
• 4 white ice-cube trays.
Each student must also have:
• This manual (available in an accessible electronic or hard-copy form)
• A notebook for recording any additional site information and data
• Pen, pencil to record data
• The Waterbug App, pre-downloaded onto your personal device (and make sure it is fully charged)
• Other items as per the ‘What to wear and bring’ list in the Logistics and Preparation document

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