The document summarizes a student project studying water quality in Ribeira do Pontido, Póvoa de Lanhoso using macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. Students from several classes collected macroinvertebrates from the river in December 2013 and March 2014. In the lab, they identified and counted different types of macroinvertebrates. Analysis found the water quality changed from excellent in December to reasonable in March, possibly due to increased nutrients or sampling errors. The project concludes macroinvertebrates are important for determining water quality as they integrate effects that occasional disturbances may have on physical and chemical parameters.

1. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Water quality in
Ribeira do Pontido,
Póvoa de Lanhoso
Using macroinvertebrates as
bioindicators
Involved students :
11A, 11C, 12A, 12B, P29
School year 2013 / 2014

2. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Why is it so important a WATER
study?
• … without WATER there’s no life.
• … FRESH WATER distribution on the planet is
asymmetric.
• … the humankind doesn’t always give the
importance needed to this precious resource.
• … to remember how essential european rules
are for water preservation.
–European Water Charter

3. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Why is it so important a WATER
study?
• WaterMark(Comenius & eTwinning)
&
• AquaProject / ProjetoAgua (Ordem dos Biólogos &
Ciência Viva)

4. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
The projects…
• Several activities were developed:
• Research papers
• Videos
• Interviews
• Posters
• Photos
• Fieldwork
• Lab work…
• Now we are going to present you one of our
works

5. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Investigation problem…
What’s the water quality in Ribeira Pontido?
© Hugo Oliveira, 11ºA, 11/12/2014

6. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Study objectives
Objectives were defined related with…
– Water quality assessment…
• Get to know the water quality of Ribeira Pontido.
• Use of macroinvertebrates as bioindicators.
– Field and experimental work
– Data processing
– Discussion and dissemination of results

7. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Study area characterization
• Urban Park in Póvoa de
Lanhoso center, crossed by
the Ribeira do Pontido
(hydrographic network of Rio Ave).
• Vegetation: grass, bushes and
small trees.
• Maintenance: Town Hall.
• It has equipment for sports
practice.

8. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods… Field
In YOUTUBE >>>>>>

9. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods… Field
• 1 local sample
• 2 samples (dez2013/mar2014)
• Net to scrape the edges.
• Contents dumped into trays.
• The macroinvertebrates were placed bottles with
water from the Ribeira.
• Measurement of the pH and temperature with a water
sensor.

10. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods … Lab
• Observation of the
macroinvertebrates with
a magnifying glass.
• Classification of the living
beings based on a grid
made by Porto University
teachers.
• Counting the
macroinvertebrates
observed and classified.

11. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods … Lab

12. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods … Lab
Type 1- organisms very intolerant to pollution

13. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods … Lab
Type 2- organisms moderately intolerant to pollution

14. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Materials and methods … Lab
Type 3 -organisms moderately tolerant to pollution
Type 4-organisms very tolerant to pollution

15. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Pictures in Lab…
Fotos de: Hugo Oliveira, José Pedro Gonçalves & José Braga

16. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Macroinvertebrates… Lab
Larvas de
Tricópteros
Larvas de
efemerópteros

17. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Macroinvertebrates… Lab
Larvas de Díptero
Família Athericidae
Larvas de Odonatas

18. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Os macroinvertebrados… Lab
Larvas de Dípteros
Família Simuliidae
Minhocas
Coleóptero

19. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Obtained data… Lab

20. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Obtained data … Lab

21. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Obtained data … Lab
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Grupo 1 Grupo 2 Grupo 3 Grupo 4 Total
Nº
Macroinvertebrados
Comparação entre o nº de macroinvertebrados recolhidos
11-12-2013
10-03-2014

22. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Discussion… Lab
The water quality has
changed :
- Excelent in December
- Reasonable in March
Possible reasons are:
- The amount of nutrients
increased due to organic matter
decomposition.
- Sampling errors.
- Classification difficulties.

23. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Conclusions
• In most water quality studies are used physico-chemical
parameters.
• If there are occasional disturbances in the water quality, these
will affect the results and because of that, we can’t
effectively characterize the quality of water.
• This study attempts to show the importance of
macroinvertebrates in the determination of water quality.

24. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
Conclusions
• The macroinvertebrates life cycle duration , their needs for
nutrients, oxygen, ... make it possible that the biological
assessment allow the detection of pollutants, increased
organic matter decomposition, ...
• The water quality evaluation should consider the set of
physical, chemical and biological parameters.

25. AquaProject/ProjetoAgua
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
WaterMark Project – Portuguese Team