Bellingen Riverwatch
Macro Muster 3 Data
What waterbugs did Bellingen Riverwatch citizen scientists find in our rivers and what do they mean?
Written by Nakia Belmer and Adrian Dickson, Department of Planning and Environment, NSW Government and Sam Daykin.
What we did…
BR volunteers and partners worked together to sample waterbugs (macroinvertebrates) at five sites across the Bellinger River catchment, which includes the Kalang and Never Never rivers and together comprise a very unique river system, located on the mid-north coast of NSW. The Waterbug Blitz method for sampling was used to guide the sampling, identification and analysis of results.
What we found
Our Macro Muster 3 data tells us that these rivers are in very good health.
Sites B2, B3.1, R1, B4 and NN1 results were in the highest band.
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The information collected from a Waterbug Blitz sample provides us with good data that can be used to provide a preliminary assessment of waterway health. The primary indicators that we use to assess waterway health using waterbug (macroinvertebrate) data are biodiversity (Biodiversity Score) and pollution sensitivity (SIGNAL Score) of the community.
The Biodiversity score, which is calculated from the number of different individual waterbug taxa collected at this site.
The method for identification of waterbugs through the Waterbug Blitz sampling and application is known as the Agreed Level Taxonomy, or ALT method (https://www.thewaterbug.net/ALT.html).
ALT uses features that are visible to the naked eye to identify macroinvertebrates. ALT identifications result in data sets of mixed taxonomic levels, some at genus or species, and others at higher levels.
SIGNAL is an acronym for Stream Invertebrate Grade Number Average Level and is a scoring system for waterbugs that helps interpret the raw data. It is based on the sensitivity or tolerance of different waterbugs to pollutants and habitat degradation. Each waterbug has its own grade from 1 (very tolerant) to 10 (very sensitive). The average of these individual waterbug grades is calculated to give each waterbug site a SIGNAL score which can infer the water and habitat quality and help to assess the health of a waterway. The calculation of this score can be weighted by the abundance of each waterbug taxa within a sample or can be unweighted, using only the grade of the taxa.
This method applied through the Waterbug Blitz is currently being tested to see if the ALT levels retain enough taxonomic information to be used with a re-calculated SIGNAL score, which is termed SIGNALT, and is the indicator of waterbug community sensitivity communicated in this report.
It is anticipated that the ALT method will provide a quick, simple approach to waterbug identification and analysis that is a practical alternative for citizen scientists who want to assess stream health. Though it should be noted that the application of this method is still being tested. As such the results communicated in this report should be considered a preliminary only and assessed in the context of the monthly water quality results and the ongoing monitoring that Bellingen Riverwatch hope to continue into the future.
To assist understanding of the SIGNALT results the score categories in the image below are provided.
EPT% is the percentage of EPT taxa (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera or Mayflies, Stoneflies and Caddisflies) found within each sample.
See sites and results on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map also.
Macro Muster 3 Data Infographic
We have created an infographic to communicate the data from Muster 3. See our library of free resources here.
How does this Muster data compare with other Musters?
B2
Cool Creek
See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.
B2 recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 29. This is a massive improvement form the 1st water bug blitz event result of 7 taxa The high SIGNALT score of 6.32 indicates this site has a very healthy waterbug community.
B2’s Muster 3 results indicate this site has a very healthy waterbug community.
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The high SIGNALT score indicates a very healthy waterbug community.
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9 caddisfly taxa
1 stonefly taxa
3 mayfly taxa
2 dragonfly taxa
1 toe biter taxa
7 fly taxa
1 damselfly taxa
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The site recorded a very high abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera.
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These results should be taken with caution due to the low diversity of waterbugs collected. Additional monitoring will provide experience for volunteers and lead to improved accuracy and reliability of results.
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Trichoptera
Conoesucidae, Calocidae and Helicophidae
Ephemoptera
Baetidae and Leptophilebiidae
Order: Mayfly
Family: Baetidae
Image by Shane Ruming, DPE.
B3.1
Tysons Bridge
See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.
Good water quality likely persisted at site B3.1 and the lower diversity at the site may indicate a site-specific change to the instream habitat. This may be driven by recent flooding in the Bellinger catchment.
These results are the lowest of all the sites sampled during the 3rd Macro Muster. The site also recorded low taxa richness (5) of known sensitive taxa. This suggests good water quality likely persisted at the site and the lower diversity at the site may indicate a site-specific change to the instream habitat. This may be driven by recent flooding in the Bellinger catchment.
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While theSIGNALT score (4.69) was lower than results of the 1 st and 2 nd waterbug blitz events (6.4 and6.0) it still indicates this site has a relatively healthy waterbug community and sits at the upper end of the slightly impacted score range..
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It should be noted that in the vicinity of B3.1 ground works to remove bamboo has occurred and this may be increasing the localised sediment runoff after extreme rain events and possibly smothering some of the instream habitats. Results from the upcoming 4 th Water Bug Blitz event should show if this lower Taxa and EPT Richness results are persistent.
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These results should be interpreted with caution due to the low diversity of waterbugs collected. Additional monitoring will provide experience for volunteers and lead to improved accuracy and reliability of results.
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2 caddisfly taxa
1 stonefly taxa
2 mayfly taxa
4 beetle taxa
1 damselfly taxa
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Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophlebidae and Baetidae
Order: Trichoptera, Family(s): Leptoceridae
Order: Coleoptera, Family: Dytiscidae
Order: Caddisfly
Family: Stick Caddis
Image by Shane Ruming, DPE
B4
Hobarts Bridge
See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.
B4’s muster indicate a very healthy waterbug community, showing a slight decrease from May 2022 (6.6) but an improvement from the June 2021 survey (4.8).
B4 recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 21, this mirrors the findings of the 2nd Macro Muster. The SIGNALT score at this site was recorded at (5.8).
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The
SIGNALT score (5.8) indicates this site has a very healthy waterbug community. This is a slight decrease from May 2022 (6.6) but still an increase from the June 2021 survey which recorded a SIGNALT score of 4.8. This possibly indicates the level of improvement in the citizen scientist’s skills since the first round of sampling in June 2021. Although the score decreased for 6.6 to 5.8 recently both scores of 6.6 and 5.8 are above the upper guideline of 4.9.
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The site recorded a high abundance of caddisfly with 8 taxa recorded in total
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These results should be taken with caution due to the low diversity of waterbugs collected which could be attributed to some inexperience in the sampling and/or identification. However, these will improve with repeated surveys and a growing community of experienced volunteers to assist and guide sampling and assessment in future.
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8 caddisfly taxa
1 stonefly taxa
3 mayfly taxa
1 dragonfly taxa
1 Toe biter
5 fly taxa
2 beetle taxa
Freshwater shrimp
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Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophilebiidae
Order: Coleoptera, Family: Helicophidae
Order: Plecoptera, Family: Gripopterygidae
Order: Mayfly
Family: Leptophilebiidae
Image by Shane Ruming, DPE
R1
Rosewood River
See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.
Rosewood River site R1 presented a waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 20, similar to the 1st and 2nd Macro Musters.
The increase in SIGNALT score from (3.9) in June 2021 to (5.9) October 2022 could possibly be driven by the improvement of the citizen scientists sampling skills.
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The SIGNALT score was recorded as 5.9 in October 2022 which is near identical to the May 2022 sample which recorded a SIGNALT score of 6.0 both of which are a significant improvement from June 2021 which recorded a SIGNALT score of 4.9. This suggests that this site still has a healthy waterbug community. The increase in SIGNAT score from June 2021 to present is could possibly be driven by the improvement of the citizen scientists sampling skills.
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The Rosewood River site R1 recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 20. This is similar to both the 1 st and 2 nd water bug blitz events which recorded Taxa Richness of 17 and 24 respectively.
7 caddisfly taxa
2 stonefly taxa
2 mayfly taxa
2 dragonfly taxa
1 Damselfly taxa
4 beetle taxa
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Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophlebiidae
Order: Trichoptera, Family(s): Helicophidae and Calocidae, Leptoceridae
Order: Coleoptera, Family: Elmidae
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The site recorded a very high abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera and an EPTRichness of 11. These results suggest good water quality and habitats continue to persist at this site
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This site recorded one individual of the rarely collected mayfly species Austremerella picta as found at the Never Never River site NN1.
This is a fantastic find as the species is rarely collected and described as only distributed from Northeast New South Wales to Southeast Queensland.
Order: Mayfly
Family: Leptophilebiidae
Image by Shane Ruming, DPE
NN1
Tuckers Nob
See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.
NN1 exhibited a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 26, similar to the 1st and 2nd Macro Musters.
The SIGNALT score increased from 5.4 in June 2021 to 6.63, indicating a consistently healthy waterbug community. The site showed a high abundance of sensitive taxa, suggesting ongoing good water quality and habitat conditions.
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8 caddisfly taxa
1 stonefly taxa
4 mayfly taxa
1 damselfly
2 fly taxa
Freshwater shrimp
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The SIGNALT score has increased since the first
waterbug blitz from 5.4 in June 2021 to 5.9 in May 2022 and currently 6.63 and suggests
that this site still has a healthy waterbug community present.
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The site recorded a very high abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera which resulted in an EPT Richness of 13. These results suggest good water quality and habitats continue to persist at this site.
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Order: Trichoptera, Family: Hydrobiosidae
Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophlebiidae
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This site recorded one individual of the rarely collected mayfly species Austremerella picta as found at the Rosewood River site R1.
This is a fantastic find as the species is rarely collected and described as only distributed from Northeast New South Wales to Southeast Queensland.
Order: Mayfly
Family: Leptophilebiidae
Image by Shane Ruming, DPE
It is everyone’s responsibility to maintain and improve our rivers.
We report on our data to help influence policy and decision making, and educate the community, now and into the future.
Note - Our raw data is shared with with the NSW Government Saving our Species recovery program for the BRST and is additionally available at both the Waterwatch portal and the DPIE SEED portal.
Raw Data
Our raw data can be found at the links below :
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Amy Denshire
Co-CEO
amy@ozgreen.org.au
02 5615 8108
Bellingen Riverwatch Data Portal Partners
This data portal was delivered through the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s Flood Recovery Program for Water Quality Monitoring, in partnership with the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and supported by the Riparian Stabilisation Package. The Riparian Stabilisation Package is co-funded by the Australian and NSW Governments under Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements
Connect with Us
Amy Denshire
Bellingen Riverwatch Program Manager
amy@ozgreen.org.au