Macro-invertebrates of the Stream
When I agreed to be on Squad Inverts, I had no idea that our ecosystems of focus would span beyond just the desert. Naturally, we found variation in organisms as we moved from the Mojave to the Sonoran and we saw beetles, bees, and grasshoppers that live and feed on the plants we studied. I did not expect to travel through Sedona on our way to Flagstaff and I certainly did not expect to stop at Oak Creek.
The creek provided an environment that was significantly different from those which we had seen before, despite the area being ultimately surrounded by desert environments. Elevation changes play incredible roles in altering the organisms present. Just three feet of elevation change will completely alter an ecosystem in Florida. The creek is situated thousands of feet above sea level and stays colder than surrounding desert areas year-round as a result. Naturally, we found junipers, pinyon pines, and a variety of coniferous trees that thrive in colder climates. We also found other species such as cypress that are consistently found near sources of water. These changes were very clear. To find the changes that were a bit easier to neglect, one needed to flip some river rocks.
Healthy bodies of freshwater such as our creek are overflowing with macro-invertebrates, often the larvae of insect species. I quickly found snails, black fly larvae, caddisfly larvae, and mayfly larvae. The presence of these inverts is a great way to judge the quality of a stream. Yay indicator species.
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