Wetland Network

Wetland Network '16up'

About the project

Wetland network - a project which will try to get an answer to the crucial question: "Is our wetland feeling well?" The answer to that question you'll get within a couple of hours and with a minimum of equipment, but you have the opportunity to add and report other analyses than those you find in the guideline below.

Before you start to carry out the testing if your wetland is feeling well choose basic level or advanced. Then please read Guidelines and Materials needed.

Choose Level: Basic (below) or Advanced (click here)

Guidelines

1. Read the manual
2. Find a wetland area close to your school.
3. Start the investigation.
4. Sum up results and report your investigation by using a special form. You'll get an opinion about the health of the area from addied plus (+) and minus (-).
5. Then compare information with similar areas around the globe - over the Internet.

Materials

Outside

Manual
Guide to plants and animals
Spade
Ruler
pH-paper
Thermometer take the temperature immediately after collecting the sample
Measure 20m
Plastic bag to bring samples from soil or vegetation back to school.,
Plastic or glass bottle to bring water-samples back to school. Rinse the bottle with the wetland water. Don't use any detergent or washing up liquid. Then fill the bottle to the top (no air at the top).

white metallic disc or similar

designed for the measurement of the clarity of a body of water. The disc is lowered into the water on a graduated line. The depth at which the disc is no longer visible is recorded - a rough limit of the visibility.

plankton net

Useful in many aquatic areas - to collect micro-organisms in water

If you can't find a plankton net in your school try to make one yourself (see Figure)

1. Small plastic jar - put a stone inside the jar (easier for the net to get under the water surface
2. rubber band
3. fine-meshed net 'nylon stockings'
4. plastic strings

Field activity

The approach to the sampling site must be easy and safe.
Samples must not be collected from stagnant water
Note date and time of sampling.
Observe and record the surroundings around the site of sampling.
- Vegetation and animals in the water and on land.
- Human activity around (fishing, drinking, boating, washing....)
- Bedrock and soil surface on land.
- Water - colour, odour etc
Give the site of sampling a name.
Samples should be taken a bit from the 'landedge' (for example tie a bottle to the end of a long stick

I. Address of wetland

Country

State (US only) otherwise leave empty

Name of your city or village

Name of your school

Your email-address

(just for registration; will not be published)

II. Month of research

Month of research

III. Description of wetland

Name of wetland area

Type of wetland area
(stream, river, mere, lake)

General observations of the sampling area (weather, air temperature, bottom material, soil around, water flow, borders, colours, salinity, how is the wetland used)

Temperature

Variations inwater temperature profoundly affects the aquatic life. At higher temperatures gases like oxygen dissolve to a lower extent than in cool water. Aquatic animals are affected by this as they are weakened by the less availability of oxygen. Plants on the other hand grow better with raise in temperature.
The water temperature can get raised due to both natural and human factors.
This test has to be done immediately after collecting the sample. Keep the thermometer dipped for sufficient time before constant at a reading.

Most characteristic field-plants around your wetland

Field vegetation is more dynamic than trees.
Reproductive maturity is reached earlier, the life span is shorter and the dependence on environmental factors
(such as pH and nitrate) seems to be grater.
Death of herbaceous vegetation beneath affected trees is a warning sign.

Birds observed

Benthic fauna (insects on water surface)

Pollution degree
Estimating the degree of pollution includes a study of the fauna because it indicates how stable or strained the ecosystem is.

A Clean and pure water if you find these moni-beasts	Mayfly nymph	Stonefly nymph
B Slightly polluted water if you find these moni-beasts nut none from A	Caddisfly larva	Freshwater shrimp
C Moderate polluted water if you find these moni-beasts nut none from A or B	Water louse	Bloodworm
D Filthy water if you find these mini-beasts nut none from A, B or C	Sludgeworm	Rat-tailed maggot
E Heavily polluted water with no life at all if you find no mini-beasts at all	No life

Water pH

This indicates how acid or alkaline the water is. An acid solution has a pH value less than 7 and an alkaline solution has a value of more than 7.

A solution of pH 5 is 10 times more acid than a solution of pH 6.

Some natural waters range from pH 4 up to pH 9 and are often slightly basic due to the presence of carbonates and bicarbonates. A major deviation from the normal pH for a given water indicates the intrusion of strongly acidic or strongly basic industrial wastes.

pH can range widely due to addition of wastes from industries and cities but also from the photosyntetic activity in the water itself. During the assimilation period (daytime) carbondioxide is consumed and water pH is slightly increased. Nighttime, when assimilation is null, organisms are breathing. Carbondoioxide is produced and pH is lowered.

Technique (choose one alternative)

pH paper
- Take a sample from the water and pour it into a suitable clean container
- With dry hands tear a strip from a pH paper roll and dip one end of the strip into the water briefly. Then compare the colour developed on the wet portion of the strip with the colour shart printed on the cover of the paper roll.

Suspended solids

Solids may affect the water quality adversely in a number of ways. Outside sources that can affect the natural balance of total solids include urban runoff like fertilizers from residential agricultural use (mainly phosphates and nitrates). Sources that can affect the level of suspended solids are leaves and other plant material, suspended sediments (clay particles) from urban runoff and soil erosion and decayed plants and aimal matter.
High concentration of suspended solids reduces water clarity, contributes to decrease in photosynthesis; binds with toxic compounds and heavy metals; and leads to increase in water temperature through greater absorption of sunlight by surface water.


No residue	Low residue	High residue	Very high residue

Method
1. Filter 100 ml sample through a funnel lined with a filter paper (Whatman No. 1)
2. Allow the filter paper to dry
3. Unfold the dry filter paper and observe it for any retained solid.
4. Record the observation

Turbidity

This is the result of fine solids in the water. Thes solids can be in form of sand, industrial wastes and sewage contributed by soil, industrial and urban discherges.

Oil which does not settle down and floats on the surface as a milky white film cuts the sunlight reaching the water body. Thus turbidity decreases the light penetrating into the water, which in turn reduces the photosynthetic ativity of plants. Heavy solid particles settle down and smother organisms at the river bottom.

The turbidity is measured with help of a 'turbidmeter'. A white metallic disc (a Secchi disk), based on the visibility of an object in water is an approximation. The metal piece can be cut either in circular or rectangular shape. The disk is tied with a string at the center and coloured white.

Procedure
Lower the Secchi disk into water until it disappears from view. Mark the string length that has gone under the water. The length of the string is referred to as the secchi disc transparency.

Smell

True colour (ocular inspection)

Other analyses (i.e. content of oxygen, hardness, content of phosphate....)