Macroinvertebrate communities in Shenandoah Valley streams, 2021

From 20 May - 8 June 2021, a Virginia Tech team of 2-3 sampled the macroinvertebrate community in 30 Shenandoah Valley streams (Virginia and West Virginia, USA) as part of a larger stream-health study including other teams who surveyed geomorphology, water quality, flow, temperature,fish community, and fish health at the same 30 streams. The macroinvertebrate community team also characterized the habitat units sampled for macroinvertebrates. At each stream, we sampled macroinvertebrates in two ways:1) in each stream we took 5 slack samples in riffles according to NAWQA protocol, and 2) we selected the most available and productive habitat where we used the Slack sampler to collect 5 additional samples in wood debris accumulations, undercut banks or leaf packs. Mesh size was 250 micrometer and samples were all taken for a known area. Other measurements included water temperature, electrical conductivity, and clarity, and percent of the reach comprising pool, riffle, and run habitats.