Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello Science Buddies, thanks for answering all these questions for everyone.

My question is about freshwater invertebrate identification. The issue is that I teach in South Korea and am curious about the applicability of a general identification key based on North American taxonomy to what I will find in South Korean waters. I am looking for students to do an ecological monitoring project on stream quality as construction begins upstream from our school. My problem is finding identification keys that will work in our waters.

Can I use a key to benthic aquatic invertebrates from the EPA (http://www.epa.gov/bioiweb1/html/benthosclean.html) to get a general indication of stream health? I think I can but I just wanted to be sure before I jumped in the river!

Jason

Hi Jason,

My first thought is that there are going to be alot of differences in what you will find in Korea versus what we find here in North America. I know we have all those insects (and thus their larvae in the freshwater) because I have seen them. Do you know if you have any of those insects on the list? If not, I would not expect to find their larvae. To find out, you could search for each of the classes and find out where they are known to live.

I also find this which may be of some help:
http://www.niaes.affrc.go.jp/marco/marc ... son-KR.pdf

Or this paper: http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1 ... lCode=fron

I appreciate the response and had already searched in journals. Unfortunately the status is that everything is done in Korean. Even this corner of Asia would be helpful but nothing has surfaced so far. Thanks for the help and I will keep looking