Aquatic Biology Lecture 1

Welcome to SCIE 6:
Aquatic Biology!
• Introduction and
Course Outline
• Digital Plant
Collection
• Field Trips
• Introduction to
Aquatic Biology
About Me…
Erin McGauley (she/her)

About You!
Please complete the pre-class
survey to tell me a little about
yourself!
It’s in Surveys on D2L…
SCIE 6 Orientation
• All labs and lectures are in person
• Assignment due date: Sundays @ midnight.
• Late policy details…one late pass
• Weekly updates, reminders through D2L
News
• Week 3-6 JenNog field work
• Tech issues? Contact the IT TDX Service

Portal
• Please reach out if you would like to set up a
meeting time. I’m available by WebEx, [email protected]
phone or email and respond to requests
promptly! (she/her)
(705) 324-9144 x 3082
• Use your emails to me to practice Room 182
professional communication skills
• The best way to contact me is through email
• From there we can arrange a WebEx or
phone conversation or continue via email.
Summary • Lectures and labs are IN PERSON
• For labs with marks attributed, you must attend the
lab to get those marks.
• Field Trips in Weeks 3-6 will provide opportunities
for rich interaction
D2L Tips
• Note REQUIRED material ---
• OPTIONAL material is for
those who would like a bit
extra or are captivated by
the content
• Please read the D2L News
material carefully
• Manage your notifications
• Subscribe to the course
calendar
• Consider downloading the
Pulse App
• Watch the D2L TIPS VIDEO
(under course orientation)
• Use the weekly checklists!
What You Will Learn in this
Course:
• Classic limnology concepts
• Plant ID skills: hands-on and digital techniques
• Freshwater invert ID
• Methods of collecting aquatic organisms
• Recognize and accurately identify:
• Algae
• Zooplankton
• Fish and invasives
• Monitoring techniques to assess aquatic
impacts
• Understand freshwater ecology
• Hang on for the ride!
Main Deliverables
• Digital Wetland Plant Collection (15%)
• Wetland Plant ID test (15%)
• ~60 plants, 25 on test: identify with
common or scientific name, no cheat
sheets
• DIY Ecosphere Assignment (10%)
• Invertebrate ID test (15%)
• 25 specimens: identify using common &
scientific names
• Smaller 5 and 10% lab-based assignments
(Zooplankton, Invasives)
• Final Exam (20%)
Digital Wetland
Plant Collection
9 plants photographed in the
field, using a unique identifier
3 Emergent
These must be ID’d correctly
3 Submergent
Use “acceptable plants” list

3 Floating-leaved
Review D2L Resources

= 15% of your grade
Start this ASAP! Weather factors
Plant Collection
Must-Haves:
Submitted per template and include:

1. In-focus, clear photos including a
unique identifier (ring/button).
2. Multiple photos showing key
characteristics!
3. A complete label in the lower right
4. Identification details in the lower
left: features used to ID the plant.
5. APA formatted in-text citation and
reference
6. Indigenous uses details for one
plant minimum. Emily Williamson,
Class of 2020
Wetland Plants…
Where?
• Photo shoot spots - lab

• Lakes: plants with buoyant parts,
no roots, can be leafy
• Bladderwort, Water lilies, Duckweed
• Streams: elongated leaves, roots
to hold in place, stream edges
• Pondweeds, Watercress, Common
waterweed
• Wetlands: cattails, rushes, reeds
+ acidophiles
• Labrador tea, Sundew, Sedges,
Swamp loosestrife
Identification Tips
Typha latifolia
• Use a reputable source for ID

• Michigan Flora (online)
• Wetland Plants of Ontario (textbook)
• Wetland Plants of Michigan (bookstore)
• Comparison with BioCommons specimens
• ID plants to species except where noted in assignment (ie. Genus and species names)
Seek App
• Download in preparation for ID work!
• No need to be connected to the internet
• No registration, no user data collected
• Location services for range information,
location is obscured for privacy
• Use Seek as a tool but not your
primary means of identification
• YOU need multiple photos + unique
identifier
• Can link Seek to iNaturalist if you want
to connect to the iNaturalist
community.
https://vimeo.com/328588355
Week 3-6
Logistics:
JenNog Trips
• Wednesday lectures will
continue to run
• Field work will be every
other week (2 cohorts)
• Non-field weeks:
Ecosphere Assignment &
Plant Collection Work
• Details TBD re. schedule.
Bonus Marks!
• Find a current
news article that
relates to Aquatic
Biology
• Let me know and
we’ll schedule you
for a 2 to 3 minute
presentation to
the class
• Receive a 2%
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news
grade bonus!
The magic of water
The power of water
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handful_of_Water_-
_Kolkata_2011-03-16_2001.jpg
https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/amnc-
nmca/on/fathomfive/activ/flowerpot
https://theconversation.com/whiter-than-white-could-
brightening-clouds-reduce-symptoms-of-climate-
change-9478
Physical properties
https://study.com/academy/lesson/capillary-action-in-plants-definition-examples-quiz.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish
Water strider. Photo © orestART / Flickr through a Creative Commons license
Climate considerations
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-the-climate-near-large-water-bodies-moderate-than-the-interior-of-the-land
Nibi in
Anishinaabemowin
• In Ontario, Indigenous communities and
allies are advocating to designate rivers,
lakes and other natural features as legal
“persons” with rights and legal standing
(Lake Erie and Lake Winnipeg)
• Mutehekau Shipu — the Magpie River – is
the first water in Canada to be granted
‘personhood’. It’s in eastern Quebec, in
Innu territory (documentary link on D2L)
• Laws that enshrine the rights of nature:
Bolivia’s Pachamama or Mother Earth
Law (2009), Ecuador, India and New
Zealand
What is a
hydrosphere?
noun: all the water on the earth’s surface,

such as lakes, rivers and oceans, and
sometimes including water over the earth's
surface, such as clouds.
Water is Critically Important
• Water is life!
• We live in a hydrosphere…the water on our planet is all we have.
• But water is a limited resource…
Complete
these
sentences:
•Over 1 billion people don’t have Fresh water
access to….
Waterborne
•4800 people die every day from….
diseases
• By 2025, _____ of the world’s
population may face water 2/3 (!)
shortages.
https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity#
The world’s 25 largest lakes (by surface area) side by side
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-25-largest-lakes/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=SocialWarfare
Freshwater
Resource
Challenges…
•Nutrient loading
•Climate change
•Non-native
species
•Habitat
alteration
•Pollution
So What Can We Do?
• Rainbarrels in summer
• Permeable surfaces
• Using runoff efficiently – rain gardens
• Reducing your usage – from 329 L pp/day to?
• water lily:https://goo.gl/images/57mzYL
• scavenger hunt:https://goo.gl/images/h5BzZL
• pickerel weed:https://goo.gl/images/m789o6
• surveying: https://goo.gl/images/6A33No
• waterfall: https://goo.gl/images/viD5yU
• Ganges:https://goo.gl/images/QWR4NJ
• Scugog River Moonrise: © Gordon L Wolford.
• African Plain: https://goo.gl/images/l7s4s0
Photo • Teacup: https://goo.gl/images/x54fmU
Credits • One drop: https://goo.gl/images/z9CeFe

• Lake Baikal: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Baikal
• Arid ground: © Roger Leguen / WWF-Canon
• Nutrient loading: https://www.wwdmag.com/nutrient-series-
harmful-algae-bloom-dead-zones
• Climate change: https://phys.org/news/2018-05-climate-
boost-global-lake-evaporationwith.html
• Non-native species: OFAH.org
• Habitat alteration:
https://lakehuroncommunityaction.ca/about-the-watershed/

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Welcome to SCIE 6:

Erin McGauley (she/her)

• Tech issues? Contact the IT TDX Service

Use “acceptable plants” list

Review D2L Resources

Submitted per template and include:

• Photo shoot spots - lab

• Use a reputable source for ID

noun: all the water on the earth’s surface,

Credits • One drop: https://goo.gl/images/z9CeFe

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