Name: Who's at the bottom of the creek? The River Institute's Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology Program
Start: 2025-05-08T09:00:00-0600
End: 2025-05-08T11:30:00-0600

Welcome to the 2025 Outdoor Learning Conference

Thursday May 8, 2025 9:00am - 11:30am MDT

River Institute Booth, Kinnear Centre

This field trip will highlight one of the River Institute’s most sought-after education programs, aquatic invertebrate ecology. This program has grown increasingly relevant in the context of engaging learners with climate change and ecosystem health.

A modified version of this program will be delivered to demonstrate to educators that engaging learners of all ages with aquatic macroinvertebrates and water can be done almost anywhere, anytime of the year, and with limited equipment.

This field trip will entail a demonstration on how to sample for aquatic macroinvertebrates from a small creek, followed by having educators try it out for themselves. After collecting specimens, we will demonstrate how to identify them with a magnifying glass and easy-to-use dichotomous keys, and throughout this process, we would tally the number of aquatic organisms that we collect and discuss how changes in species abundance and diversity can signify shifts in water quality due to climate-driven stressors and more.

To extend learning, a demonstration on how to do a basic biodiversity index to determine the health of an ecosystem will also be provided. Each participant will leave with free resources, such as laminated dichotomous key.

Session Host

River Institute

Sharing the Excitement of Scientific Discovery - the River Institute.The River Institute is a leader in environmental research and provides new knowledge, education, technical services, and community outreach to improve the health of the St. Lawrence River and other freshwater ecosystems.We... Read More →

Speakers

Optional Field Trip

Outdoor Learning Conference 2025

River Institute

Olivianne Devine

Alanna Akkermans

Emilie DeRochie

Outdoor Learning Conference 2025

River Institute

Olivianne Devine

Alanna Akkermans

Emilie DeRochie

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