Aquatic Ecosystem Surveys

This is a field course designed to provide students with practical, hands-on instruction to assess the physical, chemical and biological parameters of stream ecosystems. Surveys conducted will follow provincial protocols such as the Ontario Benthos Biomonitoring Network (OBBN) and the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP) to assess ecosystem condition. Various Ontario index netting programs will be discussed as methods of providing an unbiased index of abundance as well as collecting biological information on important fish species. The latter portion of the course will focus on discussing the various methods for assessing lake ecosystems.