DEP using water insects to measure waterway health

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is making public aquatic life sampling results from across the state. The data is publicly available in a GIS viewer with downloadable data sets. Known as benthic macroinvertebrates, these are the insects and animals that spend most, if not all, of their lives underwater. They can be mayflies or midges, crayfish or clams, or one of many other underwater species, and are one of the most important parts of the food chain that fish, birds and other animals depend on.

“Because they spend almost their entire lives in the water, benthic macroinvertebrates are especially attuned to water quality,” said Dustin Shull, Water Program Specialist for DEP. “They are an excellent way to gauge how healthy a particular section of stream or river is, and help DEP meet our obligations for monitoring water quality. This kind of biological assessment helps DEP see and assess long-term, cumulative effects of stressing factors on an ecosystem.”

DEP has developed unique methods to collect the acquatic life. “This type of […]

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