Fieldwork Activity 1

Physical, chemical and biological components


Complete pages 5 in the student fieldwork booklet for this section.

Learning Intention

To process and understand data collection on physical and biological parameters of the Hawkesbury River at Sackville North.

Data Collection

Start your activity by going for a kayak on the river with Kate via the 360 degree video below! The data for this activity is collected via a kayak trip on the Hawkesbury River.

360 Camera Image

Hawkesbury River at Sackville North - Field Data Collection Site

Utilise the Google MyMap below to discover the location of the site in latitude and longitude and begin filling out your data collection sheet on page 5.

Samples were collected at 12.45pm on Thursday 7th of May 2020

Can you discover the weather conditions on the day by using the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website?

Use the picture below to work out what the tide was doing at the time of testing and record it in your worksheet. This image is courtesy of Willy Weather - you can also find tides via this link

Flood tide (running in to high)


Ebb tide (running out to low)

River Width can be measured using GIS applications like Six Maps. Use the distance tool in Six Maps to accurately measure the width of the river from the water quality assessment site to the South bank measurement site. Compare this to Steve's measurement in the video adjacent. Are they similar?

Use the photos below to discover the Secchi Depth. This is a measure of turbidity or water clarity. The results were the same at each testing location.

Utilise the Google MyMap above to discover your virtual data for river depth at 3 different locations.

Biological Data Collection

During this activity, you will collect two types of plankton samples at each of the three river locations. The term "plankton" means it drifts or floats in the water column. You will survey phytoplankton (microscopic planktonic plant-like organisms, commonly referred to as algae) and zooplankton (microscopic planktonic animals). These samples will be decanted into small containers for later examination under a microscope.

Method:

  1. Use the Phytoplankton and Zooplankton nets to collect samples while on the water kayaking.
  2. Ensure net is firmly secured to your paddle or yourself!
  3. Throw net and retrieve 10 times.
  4. Concentrate sample by tipping excess water through the net as required.
  5. Transfer your sample to container provided and label.

This video refers to algae (phytoplankton) sampling. The zooplankton sample method is exactly the same, however a different net is used. Zooplankton is significantly larger than phytoplankton, so a different size mesh is used in the collection nets.

  • Phytoplankton net - 53 micron net
  • Zooplankton net - 250 micron net