Research Ideas and Outcomes : Grant Proposal
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Corresponding author: Mary Kelly-Quinn (mary.kelly-quinn@ucd.ie)
Received: 26 Jan 2019 | Published: 29 Jan 2019
© 2019 Mary Kelly-Quinn, Michael Bruen, Jens Carlsson, Angela Gurnell, Helen Jarvie, Jeremy Piggott
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Kelly-Quinn M, Bruen M, Carlsson J, Gurnell A, Jarvie H, Piggott J (2019) Managing the small stream network for improved water quality, biodiversity and ecosystem services protection (SSNet). Research Ideas and Outcomes 5: e33400. https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.5.e33400
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This paper outlines the research being undertaken by the recently-initiated four-year (to March 2022) project on the small stream network in Ireland (SSNet) funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The overarching objective of SSNet is to advance knowledge on the role of small streams in water quality, biodiversity and ecosystem services protection that will inform policy, measures and management options to meet water quality and other resources protection targets. The project will start with a synthesis of available information on the importance of small streams to initiate communication with stakeholders and introduce the project. This will be followed by a compilation and analysis of existing data on small streams in Ireland to inform the selection of sites for the proposed research. Three work packages will collect new data on hydrochemistry with a focus on the nutrient retention potential of headwater streams, hydromorphology and biodiversity. All three investigations will share common sites to enable interconnections between the three elements to be explored and provide an integrated approach to the research. Modelling based on the results from each of the aforementioned tasks will be used to estimate the level of intervention in the small stream network required to have measurable effects throughout a catchment on both water quality (N, P & sediment) and flows, and overall delivery/maintenance of ecosystem services. We will also engage volunteers in both biological water quality and hydromorphological assessments and evaluate the potential of citizen science in facilitating greater monitoring coverage of the small stream network.
Small stream network, Headwaters, Small water bodies, Water quality, Hydromorphology, Ecosystem services, Biodiversity protection
This paper introduces the research being undertaken by the recently-initiated four-year (to March 2022) project on the small stream network in Ireland (SSNet) funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This is among the most recent body of research addressing the need to focus attention on the role of the small stream network in tackling river water quality issues and declining aquatic biodiversity. The overarching objective of SSNet is to advance knowledge on the role of small streams in water quality, biodiversity and ecosystem services protection to inform policy, measures and management options to meet the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) objectives and other resource protection targets.
In their seminal paper
There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes a small stream and the term is often used interchangeably with headwater. While most, but not all, small streams lie in headwater reaches, they also include small lowland and short coastal streams (
The importance of, and ecosystem services provided by, small streams are well documented in the aforementioned reviews and other literature. These streams act as the ‘capillaries’ of the landscape capturing and moving water, for example 70% to 90% of a river’s flow is estimated to come through the headwaters (e.g.
In terms of biodiversity,
With the exception of short coastal streams the role of headwaters in supporting fish populations is well known, particularly in relation to salmonids. However, small coastal streams in Ireland, and elsewhere in Europe, have received little, if any, attention to date (
The many contributions of the small stream network are vulnerable to anthropogenic inputs, channel modifications and other disturbances due to their high connectivity with adjacent land, large contributing catchment relative to their size, low dilution capacity, and in many cases short water residence times, particularly where land has been drained (e.g.
Monitoring of the condition (hydromorphology, biodiversity and/or water quality) of the small stream network is challenging due to its extensive length (63731 km in Ireland). Apart from the small number of 1st and 2nd order sites in the EPA monitoring programme and sites covered by the Small Streams Risk Score (SSRS) assessments (usually targeting problem areas) there is inadequate knowledge of the condition of the small stream network. Options to increase monitoring in the small stream network need to be explored. Key options include the use of eDNA and citizen science. eDNA has the potential to become a standard bioassessment tool and there is significant effort at the European level to integrate such DNA tools into routine monitoring (see Cost Action CA15219 - DNAqua-Net (http://dnaqua.net) &
Research being undertaken by SSNet will address these highlighted knowledge gaps, and provide a science-informed knowledge base for the management of the small stream network for improved local and downstream water quality, and protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services.
The proposed study will provide specific policy recommendations and targeted management interventions to improve water quality, security of water supply, protection of biodiversity, recognition of ecosystem services from small streams and achievement of sustainable use of freshwater resources. The results will help address specific legislation targets, in particular the WFD which is the key EU legislation requiring member states to improve and sustainably manage water quality, with an emphasis on maintenance/restoration of good ecological status. A number of other policy documents emphasise the need to address water quality and quantity issues, and consider ecosystem service and biodiversity protection. Food Harvest 2020 highlights the importance of water quality protection and improvement for sustainable food production. Also of relevance here are the Floods Directive and Nitrate Regulations, as an integrated approach to all legislative requirements is sought. The European Commission communication ‘A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe's Water’ (
These targets require improved, scientifically robust knowledge of all components of river catchments and adequate consideration of the importance of the small stream network to enable adoption of measures that protect and capitalise on its potential to protect local and downstream water quality, regional and catchment biodiversity as well as the ecosystem processes underpinning the delivery of ecosystem services. It is also recognised that greater public engagement is needed if we are to effectively address environmental problems including loss of biodiversity (
The project aims will be achieved through a synthesis of existing data and information, collection of substantial new data on aquatic biota, hydrochemistry, hydromorphology and hydrology, and related modelling to address the specific objectives (outlined below).
Here, the term small stream is taken to represent upland and lowland 1st and 2nd order streams (headwater streams), and short coastal streams. The focus of the work will be on headwaters streams. Eight work packages have been defined (see Fig.
These will focus on:
These will be used to assess the impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the nutrient water quality of small streams, their capacity to retain and recycle nutrients, and the implications for downstream water quality. The work will employ a range of empirical methods (e.g., the Source Apportionment methodology (
These will firstly characterise the hydromorphology of headwater streams based on a sufficiently large representative sample of (50+) stream reaches. These extensive sites will be surveyed for morphology and vegetation structure, and include mapping of in-channel (pools, riffles, eroding banks etc.) and riparian (terraces, scrolls etc.) physical features, complemented by a more detailed survey of the sediments, geomorphic and vegetation features (i.e. physical habitat) of a central 100-200 m reach. To complement biological sampling being undertaken across a subset of these extensive sites, a physical habitat survey (MoRPh,
A second task will use a hierarchical approach to determine the character and adjustments of headwater reach hydromorphology. Focusing on a smaller number of sites (grouped sites), we will apply the REFORM hydromorphological framework (
A time-space synthesis of the information from 1., 2. and 3. will reveal the degree to which the studied reaches are in an equilibrium state or are showing changes indicative of potential downstream effects on hydromorphology and habitat availability for the biota.
The biological investigations will have four linked tasks each addressing elements of Objective 5. The core element on small stream biodiversity will involve the collection, identification and analyses of biological samples from a range of small stream sites. The focus will be on macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and phytobenthos. With the exception of the short coastal streams the role of headwaters in supporting fish populations is well known, particularly in relation to salmonids. Thus, work on fish will be confined to short coastal streams. We will also employ eDNA techniques in a sub-set of these sites to make comparisons with the results from the whole organism samples to evaluate the feasibility of using eDNA approaches into the future to compliment and in some cases replace traditional approaches to monitoring biodiversity and water quality in the extensive headwater network (e.g.
A third task will be a focused study on salmonid populations in short coastal streams where considerable knowledge gaps exist on their contribution in particular to coastal sea trout fisheries. The final task will experimentally investigate the influence of hydrological regime change (in relation to land use and climate change) on small stream biodiversity and ecosystem function using the ExStream experimental mesocosm facility (
Modelling based on the results from each of the aforementioned research tasks will be used to estimate the level of intervention in the small stream network required to have measurable effects throughout a catchment on both water quality (N, P & sediment) and flows, and overall delivery/maintenance of ecosystem services. The CMT catchment modelling tool, first developed in the Pathways project (
Citizen science is becoming increasingly involved in environmental research (e.g.
Overall, the proposed research will help harness scientifically robust knowledge to further an appreciation of the importance of the small stream networks and to integrate them into policy, management strategies and measures for sustainable resource use, as required by the WFD and the other legislative and policy targets. The research will inform recommendations for the management of the small stream network.
This project (2017-W-LS-14) is being funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland.