Dr. Catherine Coxon

Summary

The project will develop potential environmental supporting condition metrics for a subset of Groundwater Terrestrial Dependent Ecosystems (GWDTE), focusing on turloughs, fens and raised bogs. The metrics are required for the Water Framework Directive characterisation process. The research activities will first identify and collate existing geospatial data relevant to the creation of a draft "potential" GWDTE register. This will be complemented by activities which will use remote sensing techniques to further identify GWDTEs. The main body of the project will then focus on the identification of appropriate environmental supporting conditions for turloughs, fens and raised bogs. This will be achieved from a combination of existing ecohydrological data (where available) and some additional field study where required, particularly for the fens. Metrics will then be defined for each of these wetland types that provide a robust assessment of the environmental supporting conditions which will then be tested back on a subset of the respective wetlands which have not previously had any significant ecohydrological studies carried out on them. This project is led by Dr. Laurence Gill, TCD Department of Civil, Structural & Environmental Engineering. I have a role in several work packages and am co-supervising the PhD project on environmental supporting conditions for fens.

Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Programme

EPA Research Programme 2014-2020

Summary

Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems (GWDTEs) are habitats where the water table is at or near the ground surface and they directly depend on groundwater for a significant proportion of their water supply. The EU Water Framework Directive requires Member States to ensure that all groundwater bodies maintain good groundwater quantity and quality, and as part of the task of classifying the status of groundwater bodies, assessments of groundwater-related significant damage to GWTDEs must be undertaken. This research project was commissioned to inform the development of appropriate status tests relevant to GWDTEs and to highlight knowledge gaps. The project investigated the development of trigger and threshold chemical values based on conceptual hydro-ecological models of selected GWDTEs. The research was undertaken by a postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Sarah Kimberley, under my supervision as principal investigator.

Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Programme

STRIVE Programme

Project Type

Desk study

Summary

This project aimed to evaluate different management strategies to minimise nitrate losses to groundwater from spring barley production systems. This involved an investigation of the unsaturated zone (using ceramic cups) below replicate small plots with different treatments (mustard cover crop, natural regeneration, and no vegetation cover) and an investigation of both unsaturated and saturated zones below three larger field plots. Travel times through the unsaturated and saturated zones were investigated. The work aimed to contribute to the research base for formulating policy relating to the EU Nitrates Directive (1991/676/EC) and the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). The research was carried out as a Ph.D. project by Alina Premrov; I was the main academic supervisor and the research was co-supervised by Dr. Karl Richards and Dr. Richard Hackett(Teagasc).

Funding Agency

Teagasc

Programme

Walsh Fellowship Programme

Project Type

Ph.D. studentship

Summary

This research formed part of a large multidisciplinary project titled Assessing the Conservation Status of Turloughs. Turloughs are annually flooding karstic depressions which constitute important groundwater-dependent ecosystems, identified as priority habitats under the EU Habitats Directive. This part of the project was an investigation of turlough hydrochemistry, particularly nutrient status, and of turlough algae including both phytoplankton and attached benthic algae. The work involved an initial broad overview of 22 sites during the first flooding season followed by a more detailed investigation of a subset of 4 turloughs with contrasting nutrient status and algal populations. The relationship between the algal communities and the nature of the turloughs (e.g. depth, water residence time, nutrient status and sources of inocula) was investigated. The research was carried out as a Ph.D. project by Helder Cunha Pereira, supervised by Dr. Norman Allott (School of Natural Sciences, T.C.D.) and myself.

Funding Agency

National Parks & Wildlife Service, Department of Environment

Project Type

Ph.D. studentship

Summary

This fellowship provided applied research to contribute to Environmental Protection Agency's role in implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive, culminating in the development of River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) in 2009. The project involved the development of case studies and best practice, linking with national and European researchers, to demonstrate how groundwater-surface water issues can be best integrated and addressed in the RBMPs. The research work was particularly focused on the integration of complex groundwater - surface water interactions (e.g. in karstic regions) into the RBMPs, and on the management of groundwater-fed terrestrial ecosystems. The fellowship was undertaken by Dr. Garrett Kilroy.

Funding Agency

EPA

Programme

ERTDI Programme

Project Type

Research Fellowship