The Shotover River is iconic, but there is more to our rivers than what we see on the surface.

Nana Holtzmann is an environmental scientist with a background in marine and freshwater ecology. Nana has experience in estuarine, coastal, open water, river and lake water quality sampling and surveying techniques, including fish monitoring, assessing macroalgae, macrophyte and coral reef habitats.

Today, Nana is analysing macroinvertebrates collected from the Shotover River to help us build an understanding of benthic communities within a Grade 4 rafting riverine environment.

Benthic macroinvertebrates play extremely important roles in freshwater ecosystems and are used as indicators of ecosystem health.