Streams/Project tools

Identifying to order
We are in the process of creating an online guide to the common orders that we hope you find useful. Until it is complete, the web site guide is still available.

What's that bug?
Follow the link to upload a photograph of particularly challenging aquatic macroinvertebrates.

Site markers
The flags on the maps are based upon coordinates from field-based GPS units. GPS units have their limitations and accuracy is lost under tree canopy and even cloud cover. We have found that, particularly when we zoom in on the maps, the markers are sometimes on the wrong side of a street. If you find this to be the case there is an easy fix:


 * 1) Go to Google maps and search for the coordinates provided on the web site.
 * 2) Right click on the correct location for the flag and select whats here.
 * 3) Copy the correct coordinates and edit the site to fix them.

Paper copies
As we transfer resources to Wikieducator, we are abandoning our previous white-font-on-black format. The old format looked nice on screen but was essentially unprintable. If you find it useful to have printouts for the lab or field, visit here to make professional-quality page-numbered PDFs of one or a number of Wikieducator pages.

Making new invertebrate templates
Click to make a new invertebrate template

Our guiding principles for creating these templates included brevity, lack of jargon, and ease of use. Our goal was to highlight the defining characteristics necessary to identify each organism. The templates were written by college students including Erin Hayes-Pontius and Brian Cunningham as a service to high school collaborators.

Templates to date
Click to view the growing list of families and genera.

Taxonomic resources
The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation establishes biocriteria for streams and the resource includes a list of taxa found in Vermont [www.vtwaterquality.org/bass/docs/bs_wadeablestream2.pdf. The [http:www.dec.ny.gov/docs/water_pdf/sbusop2009.pdf comparable New York list] is also an essential resource. The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) provides current taxonomic status (and correct spelling) of all of the taxa we find.