Course: Beginners Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates - Online

Freshwater invertebrates are a diverse and vital part of aquatic ecosystems in the UK, inhabiting rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands. These diverse animals include insects, molluscs, crustaceans, and leeches. They play a key role in food webs and are often used as indicators for water quality.

This self-led course equips participants with essential identification skills for studying freshwater invertebrates. Providing an introduction to the main taxonomic groups commonly found in the UK’s freshwater habitats, this Freshwater Invertebrates course will help you develop a deeper understanding of their diversity and ecological importance. 

What will be covered during this course?

This is a two-hour self-led online course covering three topics. Each topic will contain a number of self-led resources to work through at your own pace. The topics covered include:

• Less commonly encountered freshwater invertebrates
• Commonly encountered freshwater invertebrates
• Freshwater insect orders

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Identify major groups of invertebrates found in freshwater environments in the British Isles and describe their habitat preferences
• Recognise key morphological features associated with different freshwater invertebrate phyla.
• Identify commonly encountered freshwater insect orders and describe their distinguishing morphological features.