WHY ARE AQUATIC BUGS IMPORTANT?
Aquatic bugs or macroinvertebrates (meaning creatures large enough to see that have an exoskeleton and no true back bone or internal skeleton) are very important indicators of water quality and the health of the creek. These creatures spend either part or their entire lifecycle in the water. This means that many depend on good habitats, food sources, and clean water to live in. Most of these creatures are also more sedentary, meaning if conditions are not favourable for living they cannot as easily move away such as fish and other aquatic creatures to find better living conditions. Depending on the types of aquatic bugs found in the water, it can help tell us if the water quality and other factors are healthy or not. Different types of aquatic bugs perfer different habitats and also have different tolerences to water quality. Some are very tolerant and can live in poor conditions, while others are very sensitive and will not be found if conditions are below their sensitivity level.

See below for some types of aqatic bugs that are in the Swift Current Creek, and how tolerant they are to water quality!