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JournalISSN: 0791-7945

Biology and Environment-proceedings of The Royal Irish Academy 

Royal Irish Academy
About: Biology and Environment-proceedings of The Royal Irish Academy is an academic journal published by Royal Irish Academy. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Water Framework Directive. It has an ISSN identifier of 0791-7945. Over the lifetime, 70 publications have been published receiving 813 citations. The journal is also known as: PRIA. Section B, Biology & environment & Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section B, Biology and environment.


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TL;DR: This paper quantifies and map the spatio-temporal variability of agro-meteorological factors that control nutrient pressures and pathways of nutrient loss, and evaluates their impact on the water quality of Irish rivers.
Abstract: The main environmental impact of Irish agriculture on surface and ground water quality is the potential transfer of nutrients to water. Soil water dynamics mediate the transport of nutrients to water, and these dynamics in turn depend on agro-meteorological conditions, which show large variations between regions, seasons and years. In this paper we quantify and map the spatio-temporal variability of agro-meteorological factors that control nutrient pressures and pathways of nutrient loss. Subsequently, we evaluate their impact on the water quality of Irish rivers. For nitrogen, pressure and pathways factors coincide in eastern and southern areas, which is reflected in higher nitrate levels of the rivers in these regions. For phosphorus, pathway factors are most pronounced in north-western parts of the country. In south-eastern parts, high pressure factors result in reduced biological water quality. These regional differences require that farm practices be customised to reflect the local risk of nutrient loss to water. Where pathways for phosphorus loss are present almost year-round * as is the case in most of the north-western part of the country * build-up of pressures should be prevented, or ameliorated where already high. In south-eastern areas, spatio-temporal coincidence of nutrient pressures and pathways should be prevented, which poses challenges to grassland management.

79 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the suitability of existing diatom-based metrics for assessing ecological status, as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), rather than developing new methods is assessed.
Abstract: Most member states of the EU have chosen to use existing diatom-based metrics for assessment of ecological status, as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), rather than develop new methods. In this paper we assess the suitability of such methods in light of the requirements of the normative definitions of ecological status. In particular, we focus on the rationale for the placement of ecological-status boundaries. As the WFD defines ecological status in terms of the 'structure and functioning' of aquatic ecosystems, we interpret changes in the diatom assemblage in light of changes in entire phytobenthos. Whilst we believe that analysis of diatom assemblages is a sensible approach to developing a first generation of WFD-compatible tools, bearing in mind tight deadlines and limited budgets, the potential of non-diatoms should not be ignored when developing future methods.

53 citations

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Journal in previous years
YearPapers
20237
202213
20172
20162
20152
20143