Freshwater Macroinvertebrate Event
Back by popular demand! Freshwater Macroinvertebrate scientist Bindiya Rashni will lead another Meandering Mates Hunt to find the critters that live in a stream. But this time, we’ll be in a new location: The Garrick Reserve in Namosi Province.
We’ll be using the Traffic Light Bio-indicator designed by Bindiya to assess the health of the stream based on the species composition of macro-invertebrates in it. The Garrick Reserve will be a particularly interesting site as we can compare the animals living in parts of the stream where cows have high access to parts where they have limited or no access.
Don’t worry if you’ve never gone meandering with Bindiya before! She will explain a simple technique called the “rock wash method” that makes it easy to find the critters who live there. You can expect to see juvenile stages of damselflies, dragonflies, caddisflies, mayflies, aquatic moths, and more. These animals have ecological importance and serve as bio-indicators for a healthy stream.
Location
What to Bring…
All equipment will be provided. Please bring your own food and drinks for a picnic at the end of the walk.
This is a popular activity, so book and pay early to secure a place!
Transportation provided (one hour travel time)
Anyone who can bring a 4-wheel drive vehicle will be greatly appreciated!
Meet at 8:00 am sharp to depart Suva from the Civic Center bus stop
1:00 pm departure from Garrick Reserve
Fitness: easy walk
All ages welcome, but children under 8 years must be supervised by their parent/guardian
Cost $20 for NatureFiji member, $30 for non-member
Become a member and enjoy the discounted rate.
Contact: support@naturefiji.org Tel: 310 0598
About Bindiya Rashni
Bindiya Rashni became the Ecosystems Program Conservation Officer at NatureFiji-MareqetiViti in March 2018. She is a passionate freshwater macroinvertebrate scientist with a decade of experience in the bioassessment of tropical freshwater systems. She has carried out extensive work on the flora (hydrophytes, periphyton and phytoplankton) and fauna (macroinvertebrate and zooplankton) diversity in the wetlands of Fiji and the Solomon Islands. To date, she has identified over a million individuals.
Bindiya developed an innovative and simple “Traffic Light Bio-indicator” (TLB) field guide which is now being used for a Community Based Riverine Monitoring project in Drawa, Vanua Levu. But she has also used the TLB and a local invertebrate spotting game (the “Meandering Mates Hunt”), both of which are age-, education- and cost-friendly, to make science more accessible to the general public. In 2014, in collaboration with Live & Learn RiverCare project, she contributed to the development of a RiverCare Toolkit for Fiji and established a river monitoring plan per village for the Drawa block communities (Vanua Levu).
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