Water Topic 2

Ecohydrological processes

Water Topic 2 (WA-2) contributes to the identification and quantification of fluxes, pathways, sources and stores of water, chemicals, sediments and freshwater organisms and their interactions using data and models at a range of scales (e.g. from laboratory to landscape) in rivers, lakes and wetlands.

The science of Topic WA-2 is delivered through four inter-related areas of research:

  • WA-2.1 Identifying and quantifying sources, fluxes and pathways of water, chemicals and sediments
  • WA-2.2 Integrating the effect of urban and rural land use on the ecohydrological functioning of a landscape mosaic
  • WA-2.3 Assessing responses of river, lake and wetland ecosystems to ecohydrological drivers
  • WA-2.4 Quantifying food web structure and trophic interactions that control freshwater ecosystem functions and services

These Topics concentrate on:

1. Attributing the sources of chemicals and sediments and defining the key processes, including short-term dynamics, that affect the fluxes and fate of pollutants.

2. Understanding the role of soil moisture dynamics in catchment processes, and quantify impacts of changing urban, peri-urban and rural land use on hydrological behaviour.

3. Improving survey methods and monitoring systems for ecosystem assessment, and assessing impacts of ecosystem change on functions and services.

4. Testing new approaches to classification and modelling to link food web structure, trophic interactions, energy and nutrient flows and ecosystem function

These activities also inform and are informed by their counterparts in the Biogeochemistry and Biodiversity Programmes and the Environmental Information Data Centre.

 

Areas of research

Areas of research relevant to Topic WA-2 include:

Collaborative research projects

Topic WA-2 participates in many collaborative projects. Examples include:

National capability activity

National Capability activity within Topic WA-2 includes:

  • Linking soil and water processes (e.g. development of tracer methodologies, source attribution of pollutants)
  • Land/water field exposure facility (e.g. River Lambourn)
  • Controlled environment facilities (e.g. fish mesocosms and artificial wetland)
  • UK Fish Tissue Archive

External support

Research is supported by stakeholders who range from volunteers who submit observations and undertake species recording to agencies and governmental bodies which provide financial support, such as the Department for environment, Food and Rural affairs, the Countryside Council for Wales, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the National Biodiversity Network, Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the European Union.