Palaeolimnology Research in Ireland
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Palaeolimnological research - aimed at reconstructing and accounting for past changes in freshwater lakes and their catchments - in Ireland has been fortunate to receive substantial levels of funding from the Environmental Protection Agency over the last four years. Two recent multi-institution projects include: Identification of reference status for Irish lake typologies using palaeolimnological methods and techniques (IN-SIGHT) (EPA/ERTDI project # 2002-W-LS/7) and Past, current and future interactions between pressures, chemical status and biological quality elements for lakes in two contrasting instrumented catchments in Ireland (ILLUMINATE) (EPA/ERDI project # 2005-W-MS-40-M1). IN-SIGHT was completed at the end of December 2005 and ILLUMINATE finished in September 2009.
IN-SIGHT
IN-SIGHT determined the current ecological status of a representative
selection of Candidate Reference Lakes (CRLs) s in Ireland and established
biological reference conditions for examples of the main types of impacted
lakes in the country. IN-SIGHT utilised diatom remains preserved in lake
sediments as a proxy of past conditions in freshwater lakes, together
withsediment chemistry, and the remains of cladocera (zooplankton) and
pollen.
IN-SIGHT was carried out in collaboration with Dr. Catherine Dalton (University of Limerick), Dr. Manel Leira (University of A Coruña), Dr. Phil Jordan (University of Ulster), Dr. Helen Bennion (University College London) and Dr. Luís León-Vintro (University College Dublin).
ILLUMINATE
Focusing on lakes in three catchments in the west and southwest of Ireland, ILLUMINATE aimed to quantify interactions between current and past ecological pressures and responses, and simulate future scenarios of direct relevance to River Basin District (RBD) managers and environmental regulators, using a combination of existing and new empirical data and results generated by runs of coupled dynamic ecological pressure-response models. The project ran for three years (2006-2009).
ILLUMINATE involved collaboration with Prof. David Taylor (Trinity College Dublin), Dr. Catherine Dalton (University of Limerick), Dr. Phil Jordan (University of Ulster) and Dr. Helen Bennion (University College London). ILLUMINATE partners also include Dr. Elvia de Eyto and Dr. Phil McGinnity (Newport Laboratory, Marine Institute), David Lenihan (Kerry County Council) and Dr. Paddy Kavannagh (ESB International and WRBD). Dr. Eleanor Jennings (Dundalk Institute of Technology), Dr. Barry O'Dwyer (Trinity College Dublin) and two PhD students (Kim Bosch and Sarah Murnaghan) participated in the project.
| Last Updated by xxxxxxxxxxx on 30/08/2008 |
