Stream-bottom macroinvertebrates are a link in the aquatic food chain. In most streams, the energy stored by plants is available to animal life either in the form of leaves that fall in the water or in the form of algae that grows on the stream bottom. The algae and leaves are eaten by macroinvertebrates. The macroinvertebrates are a source of energy for larger animals such as fish, which in turn, are a source of energy for birds, raccoons, watersnakes, and even fishermen.

Some stream-bottom macroinvertebrates cannot survive in polluted water. Others can survive or even thrive in polluted water. In a healthy stream, the stream-bottom community will include a variety of pollution-sensitive macroinvertebrates. In an unhealthy stream, there may be only a few types of nonsensitve macroinvertebrates present.

It may be difficult to identify stream pollution with water analysis, which can only provide information for the time of sampling. Even the presence of fish may not provide information about a pollution problem because fish can move away to avoid polluted water and then return when conditions improve. However, most stream-bottom macroinvertebrates cannot move to avoid pollution. A macroinvertebrate sample may thus provide information about pollution that is not present at the time of sample collection.

Useful stream-bottom macroinvertebrate data are easy to collect without expensive equipment. The data obtained by macroinvertebrate sampling can serve to indicate the need for additional data collection, possibly including water analysis and fish sampling.