This summary seeks to provide stakeholders with a preliminary indication of the health of Kabakwa Lake (hereafter, Kabakwa). This is done though explaining what the benthos community assemblage infers about the current water quality of Kabakwa. The objectives for 2023 include (1) collecting benthos through a modified OBBN sampling protocol; (2) identifying collected benthos in lab and sorting them into OBBN groupings; (3) quantifying each group using metrics to determine abundance, richness, and diversity; (4) interpreting the results to provide an assessment of Kabakwa’s water quality. ]]> Association. We completed a benthic macroinvertebrate assessment of the lake
following Ontario Benthic Biomonitoring Network (OBBN) protocol using samples
collected in the fall of 2022. The goal of this assessment is to contribute to a 5-year
study establishing the baseline conditions of Bob Lake and the benthic invertebrate
communities that inhabit it. Only one year has been completed prior to the submission
of this report, which accounts for the second year. The results of this research will
contribute to lake monitoring data and advise the Bob Lake Association on future lake
management decisions. Using the random teaspoon sampling method, we identified
100 invertebrates from each replicate of the three sites sampled. We then evaluated the
results of each site using several indices of species diversity and richness. Our
evaluation shows that the lake conditions are within a normal range for the Haliburton
area, but the remaining three years of this study must be completed to effectively
confirm these results.]]> Ontario: A Baseline Study Utilizing
Benthic Macroinvertebrates]]>