The Lincoln stream is a small river and this site is close to the
estuary where it joins the Huruhuru creek. The river is narrow, the
water slow-moving and the stream has lots of sediment and algal slime on
the bed. This is an urban area and, although the grass along the banks
is quite long and some native trees have been recently planted, there is
very little shade.
There is a large culvert about 100 metres upstream
of this site. This is where the stream emerges after being underground
for a considerable part of its length. The day we visited, there had
been no rain for a while and the stream was slow-moving. As a result,
the stream invertebrates were similar to those found in weedy ponds.
Slow flow, combined with lack of shade often results in warm water
temperatures and low dissolved oxygen levels; conditions that many
stream invertebrates cannot tolerate.
We did not find many different kinds of macroinvertebrates at this
site. The ones we did find are tolerant of poor water quality.
