Background

Monitoring invertebrate communities, aquatic plants, riparian vegetation and habitat conditions is undertaken at several different monitoring sites. Each site is surveyed twice a year; once in spring and once in summer.

Objectives

There are a number of reasons for collecting information about the Styx River and its tributaries. These include:

• To monitor habitat, aquatic plants and invertebrate communities over time.
• To ascertain if there are any trends between changes in habitat and changes in invertebrate communities over a period of time.
• To compare invertebrate communities in the Styx with invertebrate communities in other catchments within the Canterbury region.
• To improve understanding of the current state of the in-stream habitat and invertebrate communities.
   

Monitoring Sites

• Headwaters
• Styx Mill
• Main North Road
• Gardiners Road
• Belfast Road
• Blakes Road
• Ouruhia Domain
• Control Site

Data collected at each site includes:

• Invertebrates
• Aquatic Plants
• Streambed substrate
• Water velocity and depth
• Riparian vegetation