Well today I started the nitty gritty side of research and sat poured over a plate of ethanol/water all day trying to identify macroinvertebrates for my study on the Boardman river, MI this summer. Macroinvertebrates for those of you who don't know (The non-science geeks among my followers, if I have any at all) are any invertebrates that can be trapped in a .5 mm (Or 500 micrometer if you prefer) net. In case you're a geek like me and are wondering, I'm specifically looking at benthic (Bottom dwelling) aquatic invertebrates (Often in their larva or nymph forms) such as caddisflies (Trichoptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), beetles (Coleoptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), dragonflies (Odonata), worms (Oligochaeta), true flies (Diptera), and a few other macroinvertebrate orders. (You should look these orders up on wikipedia to more fully appreciate how amazing they are) A comparison of the number and variety of tolerant and intolerant (That is to pollution levels) species found over time at particular sites will allow me to gain some understanding as to the overall health of the stream over time. (I realize this may be boring some of my readers and if so do not be alarmed for all is not lost; fun pictures will eventually come). First, however, I need to sort and ID all these beautiful creatures, a process harder than you might think considering all of them are on the mm or cm scale. Right now I'm simply organizing them into their respective orders but eventually, I will have to key them all the way to the genus level (Review your taxonomic ranks now at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomic_rank if you don't remember them). I'll post more on this stuff later if I don't receive a thousand angry comments about annoying scientific discussions on the blog.

     Anyway lots of long but fun days in the lab ahead for me and plenty of other things happening as well up here. The climate here in northern MI is currently very similar to WA and the trees remind me of home, but the bugs do not. Went fishing the other day for the first time in some 10 or so years and actually caught some fish including a 10 inch small mouth bass on Small Twin Lake (Due entirely to the wise fishing tutelage of my fellow researcher and friend Joel Betts). Caught two more fish the next day on Big Twin Lake. I put the picture here of my first catch to keep all you entertained who were profoundly bored by the entire first paragraph of this post. It also proves that I a member of the Hayes family can actually catch fish. Eventually when I get around to it, I will post pictures of my field work last week on the river and something about the books I am reading. Also I'm a groomsman in a wedding this next week so I'll probably post something about that. 

Copyright: Joel Betts

Me and a fish contemplating the meaning of life