During the summer of 1998, 23 students from the United States and Scotland will be participating in a three week field study of the Oliver Creek catchment basin in the involves an analysis of water chemistry and stream life and their relation to the weather and climate of the area and other parts of the field study.
Chemical properties of the creek will be examined to determine the vitality of the stream. To assess these factors, instruments will be utilized to analyze samples of water at various locations along the channel. It is expected that stream chemistry will fluctuate due to the diurnal variations in the weather and provide clues to the longer time periods where these results are more likely to depend on climate, the age of the creek, and the geography of the area.
The stream life facet of the study will focus on amphibian populations and benthic macroinvertebrates to determine the vitality and quality of the stream. The water quality of Oliver Creek can be used to serve as a guideline to determine which macroinvertebrates one might expect to find. Because of their sensitivity to physical and chemical changes in their habitat, these bottom dwellers, by their presence or absence, may also indicate what effect the weather and, in the long run, climate have on the creek.
On a daily basis, weather is anticipated to have a strong influence on the results of the water chemistry tests. This effect however, is expected to be limited for the study on stream life. Amphibians and benthic macroinvertebrates are more likely to be better indicators of the catchment basin’s climatically induced chemical changes.