Indicator Species

Indicator species are extremely sensitive to their environment and can only survive under certain conditions (such as certain temperatures or certain oxygen levels). There is no doubt that these conditions are usually with a neutral pH and good water quality. Therefore, the presence of indicator species can be used to judge the quality of water. The more indicator species there are, the better the pond's ecology. At the same time, the lack of indicator species reflects concerns about pond quality. Therefore, it is important to look at indicator species as part of assessing the overall health of the pond.

The only indicator species that we found in this year's study was the mayfly, and we also found a stonefly but that doesn't count because it's a marginal error. At the same time, we didn't find any caddisflies this year, compared to six last year, which could have an impact on our bio-richness index. This year we found a total of 14, which is meaningful for our sampling and data collection.

Three indicator species exist in Proctor Pond. They are mayflies, building stoneflies, and caddisflies

My group didn't find any stonefly, but we do found nearly half of the Mayfly (WE GOT THE BEST INSECT CATCHER JACKSON!). Mayflies are a Keystone Prey that live in a variety of freshwater habitats, filtering water for algae and pellets, or preying on aquatic invertebrates. At the same time, the mayfly is also one of the Keystone species in the Proctor Pond. Therefore, mayflies are of great help in assessing the health of ponds

Below is a bar chart analysis and comparison of past years and this year to find Indicate Species

SCREENSHOT BY TONY HU FROM 2022 PROCTOR POND MASTER DATA