Waterbug Blitz

National Waterbug Blitz training workshop

John Gooderham and Cecil Ellis from the National Waterbug Blitz Team travelled from Tasmania and Sydney to hold a two day Waterbug training workshop in collaboration with the MRCCC and Grassroots Alliance, Noosa. The introduction session was held at the Noosa Botanical Gardens on the first day where participants met to learn how to safely and effectively collect and identify Waterbugs. The second day was held at the Mary River, Traveston Crossing where sampling techniques were expanded upon and participants gained Agreed Level Taxonomy (ALT) accreditation.  Click here  to view a short video about the training!

The types and numbers of Waterbugs in a waterway can be used to give an indication of water quality and how healthy the waterway is.

The National Waterbug Blitz team will be making their way around Australia holding workshops to train and encourage Citizen Scientists to get out to their local waterbody and use the Waterbug Blitz app (free to download from the app store or Google Play) to identify and record observations. Head to their website for more information: www.waterbugblitz.org.au

Video and Images courtesy of Jess Dean – Training to identify waterbugs!