Ken Irvine – Freshwater Ecology Group, School of Natural Sciences, TCD
The value of biological data for decision making
The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)
Set a framework for the comprehensive management of water resources within a common approach and with common objectives, principles and basic measures
Reliance on biotic monitoring
Biological Indicators approach to determine Ecological Status
High
Good
Moderate
Poor
Bad
EQR=1
EQR=0
Status Deviation
No/minimal
Slight
Moderate
EQR= Observed value Reference value
Classboundary
High/good status
Good/Moderate status
Long-term trends (2,900km baseline). A Unpolluted, B Slight Pollution,
C Moderate Pollution and D Seriously Polluted.
Source EPA
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
9084
78
6966
58
51
57
5
11
20 19
2729
26
57 8
13 1518
14
6 4 3 2 1 2 2
1971 (a) 1981 (b) 1986 (c) 1990 (d) 1994 (e) 1997 (f) 2000
% S
urve
yed
Cha
nnel
Len
gth
Class A Class BClass C Class D
1971 1981 1986 1990 1994 1997 2000
C
han
nel
len
gth
(%
)
Based on Q-values of river invertebrates
Q-values and water quality
Seems fairly consistent since 1990
WFD monitoring-2006
White clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes,
Pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera & M. durrovensis Salmon, Salmo salar
Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)
Recent emphasis for more focussed and improved monitoring by NPWS for aquatic sites
Need to align objectives between Habitats and WFD1
Irvine, K. (2009). Harmonising assessment of conservation with that of ecological quality: Fitting a square peg into a round hole? Aq. Con. Mar. Fresh Sys 19: 365-369
Pearl mussel distribution
Pre 1970s
Longest lived animal in Ireland, >100 years
1970-1989 1990s 2005
Source: friendsoftheirishenvironment.net
A protected species under the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC)
Margaritifera margaritifera population structure
Larvae rely on passing salmon as temporary host
Ref: E. A. Moorkens (1999) Conservation Management of the Freshwater Pearl Mussel Margaritifera margaritifera. Duchas, the Heritage Service, Dublin
WFD POMs
Too little, too late?
Salmon
Net benefit angling >€10 million p.a (2000)
http://www.cfb.ie/pdf/CFBMIDAPRFI_17.pdf
Minister for Industry and Commerce, Patrick McGilligan, in 1925 White Paper on the Shannon Scheme "fishing interests will not be allowed to predominate against the greater interests of power production".
1920s Shannon fishery ca 100 nets worth annual income of £20000
THE BATTLE OF TAIL RACE (http://www.limerick.ie/media/Media,3936,en.pdf)
Estimated returns, spawners and conservation limits for Irish river. Source: ICES (2009)
Atlantic Salmon: Census returns of returning adult salmon to Burrishoole, Co Mayo .
Time (years)
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
No.
ret
urns
to
trap
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
Article 17 Habitats Directive Report (2008) http://www.npws.ie/en/media/Media,6136,en.pdf
Drift Netting-now banned
Salmon-declining populations
Habitat restoration
Farming
Pollan, Coregonus autumnalis
Arctic Charr, Salvelinus alpinus
Killarney Shad, Alosa fallax killarnensis
Brook Lamprey, Lampetra planeri
Other freshwater fish under pressure
Ecological standards
Howarth, W. (2006). The progress towards ecological Quality standards. J. Env Law. 18: 3-35.
Clear Need for biological data to support policies
Species and habitat management
Black-tailed skimmer, Lough Carra (courtesy L. Huxley; loughcarra.org)
Lough Carra SAC
Ten species of Odonata1
Phragmites
Cladium
Chara
Cobbles
Targeted monitoring of habitats needed
1Huxley & Irvine 2008. The Great Western Lakes: Ecology, Heritage and Management.
2McGoff. Invertebrate-habitat assoc. in the littoral and riparian ecotone of Lough Carra
2
•Setting clear objectives (eg Habitats & WFD)
•Temporal and Spatial effects
•Taxonomic levels of identification
•Quality Assurance
•Consistency of methods
•Trends and comparisons
•Statistical analysis and need for replication.
• Uncertainty
•Further testing and development
Basic Considerations for Monitoring
Temporal and Spatial variability
White, J. & Irvine, K. (2003). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Systems. 13: 331-351.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Jan
Mar
May Ju
l
Sep
Nov
Jan
Mar
May Ju
l
Sep
Nov
Con
cent
ratio
n ( g
l-1)
Chl a and TP
0
10
20
30
40
500
to
5
5 t
o 1
0
10
to
15
15
to
20
20
to
25
25
to
30
30
to
35
35
to
40
40
to
45
45
to
50
50
to
55
55
to
60
60
to
65
Number of lakes, % of total
Nu
mb
er
of
sp
ec
ies
, %
of
tota
l
Nuphar lutea
Elodea canadensis, Lema minor
Other algae, Potamogeton natans
85 % of species occur in less than 30 % of the lakes
Sampling effort required? Most species are rareAquatic macrophytes in 570 (NILS) lakes
Source: Rippey & Dodkins
metric of the environmental factor
me
tric
of t
he
qu
alit
y e
lem
en
t
classboundary
Ecosystems are dynamic with temporal and spatial variability
Biological metrics vary across environmental drivers.
A common approach across elements is a significant challenge
Return trajectory often different from original pressure response
Interpreting the data and ecological complexity
Scheffer, et al. (1993) TREE 8, 275-279
•Uses both multimetric and multivariate approach.
•Individual “canaries” indicative of environmental change probably a naïve aspiration
•Multiple pressures largely ignored or
lacking data
•Still need for fundamental understanding
WFD classification tools (assessing dose-response relationships) have made
substantial progress
Verifying reference conditions remains a
conceptual and analytical challenge.
Reference is not, however, “Best available”
Dedicated research to support policies and monitoring procedures
Species distributions and ecology
Pressure –response relationships
Predictive models for impact and restoration
Research and communication to support monitoring
Communicating results
Scientists
Policy makers
Stakeholders
Managing large ecosystems should not rely merely on Science but on Civic Science; it should be irreducibly public in the way responsibilities are exercised, intrinsically technical, and open to learning from errors and profiting
from successes1
1Lee, K. (1993) Compass and Gyroscope: Integrating Science and Policy for the Environment. Island Press, New York
Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler (Albert Einstein)
Conditions for civic science
Trust- needs connection, respect and inclusion in decisions
Representative interests-needs network of constituent interests
Inclusiveness-created by a successful process
Fairness-needs consensus and confidence in the process
Among stakeholders and citizensInherent suspicion of Government and its agenciesRequirement of a simple messageUncertainty equated to lack of understandingDebate confusing or polarised Imbalanced influence of vested or single interests
Requires well considered and time-consuming internal and external
communication process
Uncertainty in the data affects reliability of conclusions.
Data shortage-especially from the past
Model deficiencies
Indeterminate process: highly complex, chaotic or stochastic
Uncertainty
Risk of misclassification
No estimate of quality based on sampling will equal to the true value in the underlying population (except by a lucky chance). Because of this inevitable ‘sampling error’, estimated EQR for a quality element may differ from the class that would be obtained given perfect information for that location and time period.
Ellis, J. (2006). Uncertainty estimation for monitoring results by the WFD biological classification tools. Science Report to the UK Environment Agency.
An example using European Fish Index
Risk of Face-Value Misclassification (%)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Observed EFI
Ris
k of
pla
cing
wat
er b
ody
in
wro
ng c
lass
(%
)
Ellis (2006)
Unless stakeholders appreciate uncertainty in
ecology they will have unrealistic demands for
certainty of model outputs
Key challenge for ecological classification
Data provision
Who holds the data?
State agencies
Universities
Commercial interests
Naturalists
Who funds the data?
Almost always the tax payer
Mostly the tax payer
The tax payer and industry
Charities, agencies or no-one
So, what is the problem with data availability?
Blocks to information provision
Many and Varied-real and imagined
•IT issues
•Suspicion information will be misused
•Concern about Quality Assurance
•Protectionism and paranoia
•Intellectual Property rights
•Commercial interest (e.g. IPPC licensing; OSI)
Ordnance Survey Material is supplied by permission of the Government (Permit Number 5953). Anyone wishing to reproduce Ordnance Survey Ireland material, or use it as a basis for their own publications, must obtain a licence from Ordnance Survey Ireland, for which a fee may be payable.
So how accessible is biotic data for water monitoring?
Example 1: Queensland EPA http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/register/p02735bf.pdf
Ecosystem Health Evaluation:– Tartrus Weir 18km
29th October 2009: Extensive suite of physiochemical data [NB TP of 0.2mg l-1 considered “mildly elevated”].
Invert Macroinvertebrate sampling (done quarterly)
“An ecosystem health value has been assigned to the macroinvertebrate samples. According to SIGNAL 2.iv – A Scoring System for Macroinvertebrates (Water Bugs) in Australian Rivers (Chessman, 2003). The higher the SIGNAL 2 scores the better the ecosystem health.
The signal score at this site was 4.0
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/water/environment/default.asp
Monitoring Victoria's freshwater environment. Since 1996 Review of Env. Water Quality Monitoring …. provision of Statewide database of water quality information on the internet.
<5 minutes to get extensive data on water quality up to 10th June 2006
Hello Kenneth, Thanks for your enquiry via the Victorian Water Resources Data Warehouse.
Unfortunately we do not hold biological data on the VWRDW, however the EPA should be able to help you. I've been informed you will need to get in touch with Warwick Hoffman at the science labs at EPA Macleod, and he may be able to help you with this information.
Best regards, Steve
Response to a query within 24 hrs:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/monitoring/data_proj/glenda/index.html
Great Lakes Environmental Database (North America)
Data that have not been verified through the Research Data Management and Quality Control System (RDMQ) or other verification protocols will be
preliminary data. *Preliminary data may be released, upon request, by the Principal Investigators only.
Verified Data
After verification by the RDMQ system and approval by the Principal
Investigator, the data are released to the LMMB modelers at EPA's Large Lakes Research Station.
Validated Data
After validation by the PI and modelers, data released on a request-by-request basis. If only a few datasets are requested, the data will be sent via e-mail. If several datasets are requested, a LMMB Data CD or large-capacity disk will be produced and mailed.
Data Request FormgrtlakeslmmbdataLMMB Dahttp://wwwyes
Your name:
Your organization:
Your street address:
Your city, state, and zip code:
Your e-mail address:
Your phone number:
Dataset you are interested in:
Do you want the RDMQ ouput files or are you downloading .csv files? RDMQ .csv files
How do you intend to use the data?
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/lmmb/drform.html
Recent data
In addition to the extensive historic data that are available…researchers are working to integrate the data … into an updated database. The eventual goal is to make this database web accessible for easy browsing and downloading. Please stay tuned for progress on this front
Monitoring results: This section will contain links to the latest results from the Irish Water Framework Directive (WFD) monitoring programmes for the Rivers, Lakes, Groundwater, Transitional and Coastal Water monitoring programmes. The monitoring programme became operational on 22 December 2006.
While not all datasets will be immediately available, we aim to provide links to datasets as soon as they are published.
An electronic data exchange network will be used to speed up the flow of data and make it publicly available as soon as is feasible after the analyses are completed in the various laboratories around the country
Irish EPA. http://www.epa.ie/whatwedo/wfd/monitoring/results/
Example of using information from projects for general use
Eric Wienckowski ([email protected])
Bathymetric surveys of natural lakes and release the database as a series of PDF files.
Value: Estimating residence times
Future sampling and survey
Management and recreation
Conclusions
•Biological data essential to support policies
•Many, and often difficult questions about what, how and where data is collected
•Wealth of information from agency and other sources
•But, not always ready available, or easy to use
•All publicly funded data should be publicly available
•Communicating data and results can be time-consuming but an essential component of policy implementation (e.g Article 14 of WFD)
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