Carnegie Museum of Natural History

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A Three Rivers Waterkeeper Biocube

As frontline defenders for water protection in Pittsburgh and Southwestern Pennsylvania, staff of Three Rivers Waterkeeper patrol and monitor for pollution in our waterways by using high quality monitoring and sampling technologies to collect water samples. Our work contributes to the enormous efforts by watershed organizations to monitor water quality data in our region.

A river redhorse might be a finned visitor to a temporarily submerged Three Rivers Waterkeeper biocube. The presence of this species, pictured here in a display tank setup by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, is evidence of a healthy river system.

Wildlife observations occur so regularly in our work that the thought experiment about where best to place and monitor a biocube creates a dilemma. Over the modern history of our region, mass industrialization polluted our waterways, and our rivers became devoid of aquatic life. Fortunately, with the implementation of the 1972 Clean Water Act and subsequent clean water laws at the local, state, and federal levels, community organizations have been able to hold polluters accountable. As a result, we have seen wildlife come back to our rivers – including our national bird, the Bald Eagle. On or along the Allegheny River alone, the US Forest Service has documented rich species diversity, including over 50 mammals, 200 birds, 25 amphibians, 20 reptiles, 80 fishes, and 25 freshwater mussels. 

Visible in this picture of the freshwater mussel known as the plain pocketbook (Lampsilis cardium) is the fleshy lure the shelled creature relies upon to attract fish close enough to be showered with a cloud of tiny parasitic larvae. The larvae attach to fish gills for several weeks before dropping off as fully formed miniature mussels.

We settled on a type of location rather than a specific one, the deltas formed by local tributary streams as the enter one of the three rivers referenced in our organization’s name. During the cycle of a full year on one of these patches of water-shaped land, a biocube might be fully submerged during some weeks, and shaded by riparian vegetation during other times. A list of likely plants and animals found temporarily within the cube’s bounds might very well include:

This giant mayfly (Hexagenia limbate) resting on a section of Allegheny River shoreline will have a brief breeding life of just a few days. Much of its earlier life as an aquatic nymph was spent burrowing in river bottom mud.
A Mallard hen and ducklings here represent the range of birds, including Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, Spotted Sandpipers, and of course other waterfowl species, who might investigate the space within a well-placed stream delta biocube during their routine feeding forays.
Late boneset (Eupatorium serotinum) is a native Pennsylvania plant that loves growing close to bodies of water in wet soil.  The plant, pictured here on a stream delta along the Ohio River near Conway, blooms late in the summer and into the fall, providing pollen and nectar at a time when there are few options for species that need it.
The temporary submergence of stream deltas by rising river waters does not hinder Water Willow (Justicia americanus). The early-summer blooming plant is well adapted to fluctuating water levels, and the network of its root system helps to minimize riverbank erosion.

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Carnegie Museum of Natural History Blog Citation Information

Blog author: Three Rivers Waterkeeper; Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Publication date: December 13, 2023

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