The team of hydrobiologist Michal Bílý from the Department of Ecology of the Faculty of Environmental Sciences CZU Prague focused on communities of aquatic organisms, namely macrozoobenthos, as part of the IDEAL project at the end of September. Localities in the Kamenice, Kirnitzsch (Křinice) and Sebnitz (Vilémovský potok) rivers in the vicinity of the Saxon and Bohemian Switzerland National Parks provided scientists with insight into the state of the local fragile ecosystem.
The scientists collected animal samples, which, in addition to the dominant larvae of caddisflies and mayflies, also contained a whole range of other animals (flatworms, dragonfly larvae and dipterans), on different substrates of the stream bottoms from a total of nine river profiles. Three samples on each stream represent its upper, middle and lower sections. The samples were then sorted in the field station immediately after collection in the field and prepared for further detailed analyses. In them, scientists will focus primarily on determining various biotic indices that indicate the state of the environment.
