Bellingen Riverwatch

Macro Muster 4 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, OzGREEN, with contributions by Judy Davies, Monash University.

What we did…

BR volunteers and partners worked together to sample waterbugs (macroinvertebrates) at five sites across the Bellinger River catchment, which includes the Never Never river 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 4 data tells us that these rivers are in very good health.

Sites B2, B3.1, R1, B4, K1 and NN1 results were in the highest band.

  • 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 4 Data Infographic

We have created an infographic to communicate the data from Muster 4. 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’s Muster 2 results indicate a very healthy waterbug community and with a high proportion of sensitive waterbugs present.

B2 recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 23. This is an improvement from the 1st and 2nd Macro Musters. The SIGNALT score of 5.57 is slightly lower than that of the 3rd Macro Muster, however it still indicates a very healthy waterbug community.

  • The SIGNALT score of 5.57 is slightly lower

    than that of the 3 rd Muster( 6.32). Although this is lower it is above the upper score

    range of 4.9 and indicates this site has a very healthy waterbug community which has

    persisted since the first Muster in June 2021.

  • The site recorded a high

    abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and

    Trichoptera and an EPT Richness of 7. These results suggest good water quality and habitats

    continue to persist at this site.

  • 5 caddisfly taxa

    2 mayfly taxa

    2 dragonfly taxa

    1 toe biter taxa

    2 dragonfly taxa

    1 damselfly taxa

    3 beetle taxa

  • Order: Ephemeroptera, Family(s): Leptophlebiidae and Baetidae

    Order: Trichoptera, Family(s): Helicophidae and Calocidae

    Order: Hemiptera: Corixidae

    Order: Coleoptera, Family: Elmidae

Order: Mayfly

Family: Leptophlebiidae

Image by Shane Ruming, DPE.

B3.1

Tysons Bridge

B3.1’s Muster 2 results, suggest good water quality and habitat and a diverse array of waterbugs occur at this site.

See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.

B3.1 recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 32. This is a considerable increase form the first three Macro Musters. The SIGNALT score of 5.53 is lower than results of the 1st and 2nd Musters but an increase from the third Muster. This recent result indicates this site has a healthy waterbug community.

  • The SIGNALT score

    of 5.53 is lower than results of the 1 st and 2 nd Macro Musters (6.4 and 6.0) but an

    increase from the third Muster (4.69). This recent result indicates this site has

    a healthy waterbug community.

  • The site also recorded 14 taxa from the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and

    Trichoptera. This suggests good water quality likely persisted at the site.

  • 11 caddisfly taxa

    1 stonefly taxa

    3 mayfly taxa

    2 beetle taxa

    2 damselfly taxa

  • Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophlebidae and Caenidae

    Order: Trichoptera, Family Helicophidae and Calocidae

    Plecoptera: Gripopterygidae

    Order: Deopoda, Family: Atyidae

Order: Freshwater Shrimp

Family: Riffle Shrimp

Image by Shane Ruming, DPE

B4

Hobarts Bridge

See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.

B4’s Muster 4 results suggest good water and habitat quality consistently occurs at this site.

  • The SIGNALT score (6.6) indicates this site has a very healthy waterbug community.

  • The site recorded a very high abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders

    Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera. EPT Richness at the site was of 9. These results

    suggest good water quality and habitats continue to persist at this site. This is a good results

    as this site is located lower in the catchment where more land use stress occurs.

  • 5 caddisfly taxa

    1 stonefly taxa

    3 mayfly taxa

    1 dragonfly taxa

    1 damselfly taxa

    1 beetle taxa

  • Order : Ephemeroptera

    Families : Leptophilebiidae, Baetidae, Coloburiscidae

    Order: Trichoptera

    Families : Helicophidae, Leptoceridae

The Bellinger River site B4 recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 13 and a healthy SIGNALT score of 5.69. These results suggest good water quality and habitats continue to persist at this site.

Order: Caddisfly

Family: Helicophidae and Calocidae

Image by Shane Ruming, DPE

See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.

Tuckers Nob

NN1

  • The SIGNALT score has increased since the first Macro Muster from 5.4 in June 2021, 5.9 in May 2022, 6.63 in May 2023 and currently 6.54. This suggests that this site still has a healthy waterbug community present.

  • 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 12 near identical to the 13 collected in May 2023. These results suggest good water quality and habitats continue to persist at this site.

  • 7 caddisfly taxa

    1 stonefly taxa

    4 mayfly taxa

    2 damselfly taxa

    2 beetle taxa

    Freshwater shrimp

  • Order: Trichoptera, Family: Helicophidae and Calocidae

    Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophlebiidae

  • This site also recorded one individual of the mayfly species Austremerella picta. This is a fantastic find as the species is rarely collected and described as only distributed from Northeast New South Wales to Southeast Queensland.

NN1 exhibited a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 21. This is similar to the first three Macro Musters. The SIGNALT score has increased since the first Muster from 5.4 in June 2021, 5.9 in May 2022, 6.63 in May 2023 and currently 6.54. This suggests that this site still has a healthy waterbug community present.

NN1’s Muster 4 results suggest good water quality and habitats persist at this site with a high abundance of known sensitive taxa.

Order: Mayfly

Family: Leptophlebiidae

Image by Shane Ruming, DPE

R1

Rosewood River

See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.

R1’s Muster 2 results suggest good water quality and aquatic habitats persist at this site.

R1 recorded a very low diversity with a Taxa Richness of only 9.This is not similar to both the first Macro Musters which all recorded taxa richness. However the high SIGNALT score (6.55) shows this site still has a healthy waterbug community. The results may be reflective of less thorough sampling this Macro Muster.

  • SIGNALT scores for the first three rounds were recorded as 5.9, 6.0 and 6.63 which is similar to the results form the 4thMacro Muster 6.55. This suggests that this site still has a healthy waterbug community. The increase in SIGNALT score from June 2021 to present is possibly driven by the improvement of the citizen scientists sampling skills.

  • The site recorded a very low abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera and an EPT Richness of only 2 was recorded. These results suggest good water quality and habitats continue to persist at this site though it suggests the survey was not as thorough as previous Macro Musters . This can be observed in the taxa list below with no caddisfly or stonefly tax acollected.

  • 0 caddisfly taxa

    0 stonefly taxa

    2 mayfly taxa

    1 dragonfly taxa

    1 Damselfly taxa

    1 beetle taxa

  • Order: Ephemeroptera, Family: Leptophlebiidae

    Order: Trichoptera, Family(s): Helicophidae and Calocidae, Leptoceridae

    Order: Coleoptera, Family: Psephenidae

Order: Caddisfly

Family: Stick Caddis

Image by Shane Ruming, DPE

See site location on Bellingen Riverwatch Macro Map.

Kalang River

K1

K1 has only been sampled twice, once during the 1st water bug blitz and recently at the 4th Macro Muster. The site recorded a diverse waterbug community with a Taxa Richness of 30, this is an increase from the 1st water bug blitz event which recorded 19 taxa.

K1’s Muster 4 results suggest good water quality and habitats persist at this site.

  • The SIGNALT score of 5.27 indicates this site has a healthy

    waterbug community and is an increase from 4.5 recorded at the 1 st Macro Muster.

  • The site recorded a relatively high abundance of known sensitive taxa from the orders

    Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera and an EPT Richness of 11 which is also an

    increase from the 1 st Muter.

  • 8 caddisfly taxa

    1 stonefly taxa

    2 mayfly taxa

    2 dragonfly taxa

    3 damselfly taxa

    2 toe biter taxa

    3 beetle taxa

    freshwater shrimp

  • Order: Ephemeroptera, Family(s): Leptophlebiidae

    Order: Trichoptera, Family(s): Leptoceridae

    Order: Coleoptera, Family: Gyrinidae

Order: Mayfly

Family: Leptophlebiidae

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