Our Biosphere team undertook our bi-annual (wet season) aquatic assessment in the Jukskei River today…. Sad to say that since we started in this river it has only deteriorated beyond repair…. We sampled only 5 different tolerant taxa, of those 5 the majority were black fly larvae (simuliidae) and bloodworms (chironomidae). Despite the developer’s efforts […]
We undertook one of our bi-annual Aquatic Ecological Assessments at the beginning of this week. Taxa species sampled were much better than other rivers, however, aspects such as erosion, excess sedimentation, and debris from recent floods have taken their toll on the aquatic life of this stream. It is important for clients and consultants to […]
Here are some photos of our trip to Sabie. We have sampled a wide variety of macroinvertebrates. Such a challenging job (aquatic ecology) as there are so many invertebrates that look very similar. For this job, you need to stay in practice. Unfortunately, for those of us working in the rivers of Gauteng, we seldom […]
The tragic reality is that many of our main Rivers are polluted to an almost irreparable state, and we tend to just accept this fact, why? We obviously rely on the relevant authorities to keep our wastewater systems functioning optimally and at least maintained to some standard but clearly this isn’t the case and again […]
We enjoy learning fun facts about the invertebrates we sample during our biomonitoring events. Today we’d like to share some fun facts about the gastropod shell, the gastropod shell is an animal shell that is part of the body of a gastropod or snail. It is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only […]
Surface water is one of the most influenced ecosystems on earth, and its alterations have led to extensive ecological degradation such as a decline in water quality and availability, intense flooding, loss of species, and changes in the distribution and structure of the aquatic biota thus, making surface watercourses not sustainable in providing goods and […]
The Ephemeroptera, or mayflies, are a small but diverse order of amphibiotic insects found in freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Mayflies provide direct and indirect services to humans and other parts of both freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems). They provide regulatory services through their cleaning of freshwater. They provide many essential supporting services for ecosystems such as bioturbation, […]