Water Bugs are Great Detectives

On a beautiful day in August a group of 12 adults lead by Jacki, a environmental scientist and project officer with Maroochy Waterwatch and armed with butterfly nets, magnifying glasses, a microscope, plastic tweezers and sundry flat dishes descended on the quiet water of Currimundi Creek South Arm to check the water for aquatic macro invertebrates or water bugs. The purpose of the workshop was to search for water bugs, identify them and take a count of the various species and using this information, calculate a health index for the waterway.

We identified water mite, whirligig beetle larva, freshwater shrimp, water boatman, water spider and others. We learnt that some water bugs can tolerate various levels of water quality and others may not. Water temperature, pH, clarity and dissolved oxygen are important factors for water bugs to thrive.

Water bugs are more plentiful in fresh water than saline water and healthy waterways have an abundance of water bugs and a diversity of species. The site that we tested indicated a poor pollution index and a very poor environment for aquatic macro invertebrates.