The East, West, and Main Branch of the Maple River: comparison of water quality and functional feeding groups.

Abstract

Rivers are good environments for many different animals from fish and macroinvertebrates. Macroinvertebrates can tell if the water quality of a river is fairly good to very bad. In this experiment the water quality of three different rivers in the Pellston MI area were sampled to find their water quality and to determine if the dam had any impact on the rivers. It was found that the average water quality in one of the rivers was found to be below fifty percent using the percent Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Tricoptera method. Carbon was found to decrease in the Main Branch of the Maple River. There are many reasons for the low percent EPT in the rivers. Many of these reasons can be attributed to naturally occurring affects such as downed trees and slow moving currents. There are a few man made objects such as bridges and the dam that may be causing some changes.