This DARD-funded PhD studentship would run in parallel to an Irish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Strive research programme (starting in February 2016) which will examine and attempt to disentangle the physical, chemical and biological stressors on aquatic ecosystems (rivers and lakes) across the island of Ireland.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) assesses water quality in rivers and lakes using a suite of chemical, physical and biological parameters, whereby the worst performing determines the overall water quality designation for a site. In Ireland, despite recent improvements in river chemical water quality associated with the implementation of mitigation measures and legislation under the Nitrates Directive and Phosphorus Regulations, a lack of corresponding improvement in biological WQ means that many rivers are unlikely to achieve ‘good ecological status’ within the WFD timeframe. Only 53% of monitored river sites in the Republic of Ireland were classed as at acceptable status (good or high) for 2010-2012. Macroinvertebrate communities, alone or in conjunction with water chemistry, were the most regionally prevalent metric determining overall WQ. Given that research in Ireland indicates that agricultural and urban land covers are strongly negatively correlated with biological WQ in rivers and lakes, it is important that the role of the specific underlying factors are quantified to allow the identification and implementation of targeted, effective and cost-efficient measures. This programme of research will use national and focus river catchment scales to investigate the relationships between physical, biological and chemical characteristics and water quality in selected Irish river catchments. Novel statistical approaches will be applied to look for causal patterns within the data sets and some targeted fieldwork will be undertaken to address any identified data gaps. The project partners include AFBI, University College Cork, the Marine Institute and Ulster University. There is a lot of scope for the student to tailor their research to suit their strengths and interests and we will assist them in the development of their application. For DARD there are very specific conditions for eligibility which must be met – these are outlined in Section 4 of the attached application form. As the application deadline is mid-February it is essential that any expressions of interest be made as soon as possible. If students could in the first instance email both ([email protected] ) and Yvonne McElarney ([email protected]) we will set up a meeting to discuss the project further.
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April 2021
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