Does Catchment Land-use Affect Marine Biodiversity?
Excess nutrients in rivers can cause eutrophication in coastal waters leading in extreme situations to "dead-zones" and severe impacts on biodiversity. What is less well known is how low levels of nutrients also affect marine communities, and what tools we can use to detect these impacts.
A joint project between CEH Bangor and the Universities of Bangor and Aberystwyth uses molecular techniques (FT-IR metabolic fingerprinting), immunology assays and biodiversity surveys to look at how river water quality affects the health of mussel bed communities and seaweeds.
The work focuses on the estuaries of four rivers in North Wales, the Conwy and Ogwen which have low nutrient levels, and the Clwyd and Braint with higher nutrient levels. Modelling of the catchment land-use in these rivers also allows us to predict how changing land-use may affect nutrient fluxes in the future.
