Freshwater macroinvertebrates. While not a household name, we’ve all experienced their impact. Ever swat a mosquito? Watched a dragonfly swoop by? Walked through a swarm of midges? Then you have seen a freshwater macroinvertebrate – albeit in its adult, terrestrial form. 

Freshwater macroinvertebrates are organisms that live in freshwater (lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and wetlands) for some or all of their lives. They are macro-sized (small-but-not-tiny) and are invertebrates (no backbone). 

As the project director of MacroBlitz, I want you to not only know what freshwater macroinvertebrates are, but to also find and photograph them, and then upload the photos to iNaturalist.  

Macroinvertebrates are important to global ecosystems because they form the base of many food chains for larger, more “charismatic” animals, such as trout, ducks, and kingfishers. 

Protecting these animals means protecting their habitats and food sources, and that requires information. Beyond just their importance to other animals, aquatic macroinvertebrates also deserve protection in their own right.

Macroinvertebrates are connected by a thousand fragile lines to the rest of the environment, including us. Aquatic macroinvertebrate wellbeing directly impacts our wellbeing.

Inspiring examples

In Pierre, South Dakota, Earth Science educator Craig took action. Craig brought his 9th grade students to a stream across the street from his high school last April. His students made observations of scuds, a leech, caddisfly, and dragonfly, which are now added to iNaturalist’s database. Next year’s students will be able to compare their observations with those made this year.

Similarly, staffers for the National Geographic Society in Washington DC – Ashley, Christian, Jasmine, Lidia, Veery, and Tyler – participated in a MacroBlitz event. Their observations of scuds, caddisflies, mayflies, chironomids, and more are among the first on iNaturalist for a stream that runs through the heart of historic Georgetown.

In Colorado, Sarah has her own consultancy and contributes to citizen science projects. After attending a MacroBlitz training, she led a group in making observations of aquatic macroinvertebrates in mountain streams, a type of system that is under threat from climate change. They observed lots of stoneflies. What will be there in 20 years?

Carlos Velazco, biologist from Mexico and a member of the MacroBlitz team, uploaded an observation of a scud made in Chicago along the restored Wild Mile of the Chicago River – a river which has been significantly impaired by a century plus of pollution. The observation was identified to the species level on iNaturalist.

Getting involved with MacroBlitz

Whether you are a teacher, student, nature enthusiast, or professional biologist, MacroBlitz is for everyone and needs everyone. By documenting what macroinvertebrates are in a local pond, stream, lake, or river, you can contribute to a data set to help researchers, conservationists, watershed managers and community members understand the state of freshwaters and aid in conservation efforts.

MacroBlitz was intentionally designed to be useful to the researcher and usable by the non-expert. The research question that drives MacroBlitz is simply What kinds of macroinvertebrates do you find when you churn and turn rocks in a stream, or jab the vegetation or top layer of sediment with a net in a pond, wetland, or along a lake shore? 

We realize that not requiring a certain sample size or specific equipment means that the data is limited in some respects. For example, the data may not be useful water quality analysis. The MacroBlitz team feels that what is lost is more than compensated for by the ability to capture large amounts of presence data.

MacroBlitz training

To make MacroBlitz as accessible as possible, we have endeavored to keep things as simple as possible (but no simpler). The most expensive tool required is a camera. The camera in your phone is more than adequate, and we built our training module on macrophotography around using a phone camera. In our training module on gear, we emphasize the purpose of the gear so people can make substitutions, depending on what is available in their locale.

All of the modules are available through a Google classroom. Information about how to become part of MacroBlitz, including how to join the classroom, can be found on our SciStarter project page. The Google classroom offers a series of modules, each with a video and slide deck. The slide decks can be downloaded and adapted for local use. 

Many modules have additional resource lists. We kick off our classroom with a project overview, which includes two short videos from National Geographic explorers, one in the boreal forest of Canada and one in Patagonia. 

Our goal is to help participants realize that even though they may not be in the Canadian wilderness or Patagonia, they are still making an important contribution to science through MacroBlitz.