Students at the Aquatics workshop presentation. (Photo Credit: Jim Sroka/ECSWCD)

Students collecting aquatic invertebrates and learning about riparian zones. (Photo Credit: Jim Sroka/ECSWCD)

Staff from the Lower Great Lakes Fisheries Resource Office taught the "Aquatics" portion of the 2007 Erie County Envirothon workshop.  This local competition is the starting point for local high school teams competing for spots in the New York State Envirothon which is scheduled for May 23-24 at the State University of New York at Cobleskill.  This year the Aquatics workshop included a presentation about the aquatic environment, including pollutants, the water cycle, aquatic macroinvertebrates, limnology, and invasive species.  Students then hiked to a nearby creek to collect aquatic invertebrates, learn about calculating water velocity and stream discharge, and see first hand how buffer zones and other physical characteristics along a stream help improve habitat for aquatic life.  Teams then returned indoors to sort and identify invertebrates and get a brief lesson in calculating the biotic index of a stream using the proportions of invertebrates collected in the sample.  In May teams will be tested with the Aquatics exam and other focus area exams.  These scores will then be combined with their oral presentation score to determine which Erie County team advances to the state competition.  LGLFRO staff also helped judge this year's oral presentations.  The topic for this year's presentations was "Alternative/Renewable Energy."