Dragonfly-Mercury Monitoring- GLKN

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The objective of this Task Agreement is for GLKN and Northland College to cooperate in the field collection, data analysis, data management, and reporting of results on concentrations of mercury in larval dragonfly from up to nine NPS units in the upper Midwest. The project will provide place-based education for Northland College students and quality data for the NPS to assess spatial patterns and trends in mercury. The NPS Great Lakes Inventory & Monitoring Network (GLKN) is developing a long-term program to monitor mercury as an environmental contaminant. The NPS is required to provide park visitors with information about the dangers of mercury and advice on limiting the consumption of fish from waters with high levels of mercury. Recent studies have found that concentrations of mercury in larval dragonfly are well correlated with levels of mercury in game fish. Since larval dragonfly are more easily sampled and processed than fish, GLKN hopes to use larval dragonfly as sentinel organisms to monitor spatial patterns and trends in mercury across several parks. GLKN has collaborated with the NPS Air Resources Division, the US Geological Survey, and the University of Maine since 2012 to engage “citizen scientists” to collect larval dragonfly in several parks. Under the citizen science program, Professor Randy Lehr from Northland College involved students to collect larval dragonfly at the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway (SACN). He and his students have been involved in the study since inception in 2012. In this Cooperative Agreement, GLKN and Northland College will expand the role of Northland College by employing student interns to collect larval dragonfly at other NPS units in the upper Midwest. This project has great potential to grow in to a collaborative education and resource monitoring program whereby students get hands-on experience in fieldwork and data analysis while the park service gets data on an important ecological indicator.

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