A Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America

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Summary: In and out of water
Review: A GUIDE TO COMMON FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATES OF NORTH AMERICA helps ordinary people find and name about 100 crustaceans, insects and worms, in shallow waters and without microscopes. Freshwaters are all inland waters, unaffected by sea tides and usually lacking in much salt. That means streams, rivers, ponds and lakes.

Freshwater invertebrates make up 70 percent of all known animals, microbes and plants. These skeletonless critters are important, in the food chain and to the environment. Some are scrumptious food, such as crayfish and river shrimp. All are hard-working environmentalists, earthworm-like in breaking down and cycling organic matter and nutrients. All are reality-checks to freshwater health. All are wake-up calls to changed living conditions, nature's temper tantrums, and pollution.

All are easy-to-know, too, because of this beautifully, one-of-a-kind illustrated, organized and written book. Illustrator Amy Bartlett Wright's artwork is outstanding. So is author J Reese Voshell, Jr's know-how. For he gives each invertebrate's breathing and feeding needs, life history, living space, movement, and stress level. In addition, he tells how to set up acceptable aquarium living for live catch.

Gravel can be on the bottom. But add stones, sticks, live plants, dead leaves, and bottom sediment, from where the invertebrates were caught. Water must be from where they were caught, too. It has fine detritus and microbe tidbits. Otherwise, a pump must bubble air in. That gets killer chlorine out of treated water.

An air stone letting out small amounts of air keeps down natural decay and smells. Likewise, it keeps water chock full of dissolved oxygen. So does a screen cover. Also, it keeps invertebrates from getting out.

Big chores are food and water. Take out what's not eaten within 24 hours. Change about 1/3 of the water every 2 weeks, if there's a lot of algae or scum.

The best bets are caddisflies, crustaceans, damsel and dragon flies, flat and segmented worms, mollusks, true bugs and flies, and water beetles. Specifically, those most likely to grow, from larvae into adults, are damsel and dragon flies. With my next stream quality monitoring, as soon as water levels go down, I'd like to start mine!

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Summary: The Guide to Follow
Review: Anyone with an interest in the outdoors or natural history finds wonder and amazement in all organisms one comes across. Even the smallest of creatures holds fascination on those keen on natural life and many times will leave you wondering, 'What is that ??'. A GUIDE TO COMMON FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATES OF NORTH AMERICA by J. Reese Voshell, Jr. is a wonderfully complete introduction to the small organisms that we find in the shallows of our local freshwater ponds, lakes, creeks or streams. Beautifully illustrated by Amy Bartlett Wright, A GUIDE TO COMMON FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATES OF NORTH AMERICA is much more than the typical field guides on the market today. The first section of the book takes the reader through the ecology and fundamentals of freshwater biology and freshwater invertebrates. Well written in an easy to follow flow that is indicative of his 25 years of research and study, J. Reese Voshell, Jr. explains how to use this book and introduces the reader to the guidelines to effectively study freshwater invertebrates. The rest of the book is split into two parts, the first not too different from most field guides are the illustrated descriptions of 100 of the most common freshwater invertebrates with easy to follow distinguishing characteristics. This identification section is referenced by page to the third section that contains a detailed description on the distribution, habitat, biology and feeding habitats of each of the individual freshwater invertebrates. All written in an easy to follow format, A GUIDE TO COMMON FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATES OF NORTH AMERICA is a comprehensive guide and study tool, it is part field guide and part biology text, the combination of which is what makes this book unique and valuable. A GUIDE TO COMMON FRESHWATER INVERTEBRATES OF NORTH AMERICA is as complete a guide book as you will ever find or need.

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Summary: Technical identification for the layman
Review: Dr. Voshell has taken the highly technical methodologies involved in family level benthic macroinvertabrate identification and ecology and translated it for all to enjoy. His book is beneficial for the amateur, yet appropriate for the professional.

Rating:
Summary: Technical identification for the layman
Review: Dr. Voshell has taken the highly technical methodologies involved in family level benthic macroinvertabrate identification and ecology and translated it for all to enjoy. His book is beneficial for the amateur, yet appropriate for the professional.

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Summary: An excellent place to start for benthic macroinvertebrates
Review: If I could recommend only one book to someone interested in getting started to learn about benthic macroinvertebrates, Voshell and Wright's Guide to Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America would be it. The colored pictures are superb, and the text is clearly written and very informative. The introductory section of the book provides information to get the novice started: what are freshwater invertebrates and why are they of interest; how are they classified; a quick look at freshwater ecology; basics of freshwater invertebrate biology; and how to study these fascinating little critters.

The second section, which includes Amy Wright's beautiful pictures, provides very clearly written material on the distinguishing features of the various families. The third section, which is keyed to the second, provides information about the ecology, habitat, movement, feeding, breathing, life history, and significance (including pollution tolerance) for each of the families discussed.

This book is an excellent introduction. True, it is not as complete as Peckarsky, et al, Thorp and Covich, or McCafferty and Provonsha. On the other hand, it is nowhere nearly as intimidating as these much larger, very detailed, and more technical books are. For the amateur, Voshell and Wright's Guide provides a fine stepping stone to these other, less accessible works. I should expect that a bright, interested high school student would have no trouble using this book. Certainly it was a blessing to a retired chemist who needed to get up to speed on benthic macroinvertebrates.

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Summary: Extremely useful to both amateurs and professionals
Review: This book is an excellent guide to family-level invertebrate identification. It has wonderful pictures and excellent background information on the organisms.

Section I has the fundamentals of freshwater invertebrate biology. It discusses basic ecology of invertebrates and provides generalized information about habitat, feeding, movement, breathing, and stress tolerance. This section also discusses common methods of studying freshwater
invertebrates and provides references for further study.

Section II has an identification mechanism for identifying the invertebrates. The authors call it Quick Guide. The guide uses line drawings with written distinguishing features. It functions in a similar manner to a dichotomous key, but is not as complex.

Section III has natural history and ecological information for each group in the book. This section presents distinguishing features, explanation of names, habitat, movement, feeding, breathing, life history, significance, and stress tolerance for each specific group.

I have only two minor criticisms of this book. One criticism is that the book shows only adult beetles, when many times the larval forms are collected. This book would not help in their identification. Second, since most of the identification is pictoral, some groups (especially snails) would be difficult for beginners to distinguish. Once again, these are minor criticism and I use this book a lot.

Overall, I enjoy this book on many levels and it contains a wealth of information. As an aquatic ecologist I "live and die" by McCafferty and Merritt and Cummins, but those are large, cumbersome tomes. If I need a quick check on a fact, or to see a picture, I can easily take this book into the field or wherever I need it. I strongly recommend this book to you.