Investigation

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates We Found At Agua Caliente Park, Tucson AZ

Kathryn Orzech and Beth Frost

Aquatic Macro-invertebrates 

As part of a water unit, middle-school students from Paulo Friere Freedom School in Tucson, Arizona visited Agua Caliente Park to collect aquatic macro-invertebrates. They intended to use these organisms to calculate a biotic index for the main pond at Agua Caliente.

Audio Accounts of the Water Unit

 sound iconListen to Paulo Freire Freedom School Watershed Unit Podcast. Part 1 Sweetwater Wetlands Group 1

sound iconListen to Paulo Freire Freedom School Watershed Unit Podcast Part 1 Sweetwater Wetlands (Group 2)

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Students by the main pond at the park. © 2006 Beth Frost

 

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Dragging the plankton net to gather plankton. © 2006

 

Aquatic Macro-invertebrates Found at Agua Caliente Park: 

Organism Image

Damselfly
Nymph

 

© 2006 Watershed36

 

 Dragonfly

Nymph 

 
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© 2006 Watershed30

 

 Water

Scorpion 

 
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© 2006 Watershed5

 

 Mosquito

Larvae 

 
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© 2006 Watershed6

 

 Mystery

Organism

(Midge Fly

Larvae?) 

 
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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006 Watershed31

 

 Rotifer

(Zooplankton) 

 
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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006 Watershed1

 

Fish Found at Agua Caliente Park 

Many students were more interested in the minnows and other small fish found near the edge of the pond and chose to examine those instead.

 

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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Captured minnows awaiting observation© 2006

We had viewers that enabled students to look at their fish from the top and the side so they could draw them more effectively.

 

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A viewer © 2006

Here are a few fish drawings done by students:


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© 2006 Watershed9

 

 

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© 2006 Watershed2

 

 
 
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© 2006 Watershed11

 

 
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© 2006 Watershed6

 

 
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006 Watershed31

 

 
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Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

© 2006 Watershed3

 

 

 

Information on the Internet

  • Critter Clues Activity for Grades 3-6  This page introduces the idea of a biotic index and has an easy-to-use visual biotic index pictured near the bottom of the page.
  • Minnesota Fishing Museum Chart for Organisms  This page shows a chart with common and scientific names for common aquatic macro-invertebrates and also shows their level of pollution tolerance.
  • Leaf Pack Network Data Analysis  This site is written more for adults but has a biotic index chart with common and scientific names of organisms and also a chart showing the cutoffs for Excellent, Good, Fair and Poor water quality based on the biotic index.
About This Page


University of Arizona

Beth Frost
Paulo Freire Freedom School

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Kathryn Orzech at and Beth Frost at

All Rights Reserved.

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