DOLMANT Report
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Project summary Development of targeted ecological modelling tools DOLMANT for lake management 2014 Summary findings and recommendations 2014 1 DOLMANT project Development of Lake Management Tools The DOLMANT project was part-financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development fund through the INTERREG IVA Cross-border Programme managed by the Special European Union Programmes Body. Six project partners: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) – Lead Partner University of Ulster Trinity College Dublin Inland Fisheries Ireland Northern Ireland Environment Agency Environment Protection Agency McElarney, Y., Rippey, B., Rosell, R., Ward, C., Allen, M., Forasacco, E., Gallagher, K., Macintosh, K., Vaughan, L., Paul, A., Campbell, W., Cromie, H., O’Kane, E., Kelly, F. Front cover: Lough Erne ( ©Fermanagh Lakeland Tourism ) 2 Project summary Contents Page number Report context 4 Introduction 4 Model Development 6 Nitrogen and phosphorus loading from the catchments 6 Development of management tools for the synoptic lakes 11 Recommendations for synoptic lake management 14 Development of management tools for Lough Neagh 15 Recommendations for Lough Neagh management 17 Development of management tools for Lough Erne 19 Recommendations for Lough Erne management 21 Acknowledgements: 22 3 DOLMANT project Development of Lake Management Tools Report context This summary report outlines the findings and recommendations which are the culmination of the research conducted through the EU INTERREG IVA funded DOLMANT project. This report was presented at the DOLMANT Closure Event on the 17th September 2014. The more detailed Volume 1: DOLMANT Technical Report, contains further background, results and discussion. Introduction The aim of the DOLMANT project (2011 – 2014) was to produce practical management tools to help managers achieve ecological targets for lakes and it is these tools, constructed from lake models, which can assist in the development of a programme of catchment management. The project focused specifically on developing tools in: Lough Neagh, Lough Erne and a set of synoptic lakes which represented lakes in the cross border INTERREG region. During the previous two decades there has been a monumental shift in the way freshwater resources have been managed on the island of Ireland. Previously, lake management focused almost exclusively on chemical water quality. There is now recognition that sustainable use of freshwater is possible only through the protection of biological integrity. The biological integrity of a lake is related to its ecological quality. The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) was adopted in 2000, requiring member states to “protect, enhance and restore all surface waters ... with the aim of achieving good surface water status (by 2015)” (European Commission, 2000). The WFD established a new, integrated approach to the protection, improvement and sustainable use of European waters. It outlined how European waters were to be managed on the basis of natural geographical areas, River Basin Districts (RBDs), with a management plan for each district. According to the WFD, Ireland is divided into eight districts and those which cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are referred to as International River Basin Districts (IRBDs). The DOLMANT study lakes were located across many of the RBDs shown in Figure 1. The lakes included Lough Neagh and Lower Lough Erne, located in the Neagh- Bann IRBD and North-Western IRBD respectively. A series of smaller lakes, representative of the region, distributed throughout the Western RBD, North-Western RBD, Neagh-Bann IRBD and North-Eastern RBD were also included. Figure 1 River Basin Districts on the island of Ireland (EPA, 2005) 4 Project summary Previously, there has been no attempt to integrate all the major biological elements of lakes with water chemistry, hydromorphology and catchment properties in the cross border region. Only a limited number of similar studies have been conducted further afield. This integration; especially of biological elements such as zooplankton - central to biotic processes in lakes, is essential to allow the development of tools that can be used for lake management purposes. To date, each biological element has been considered separately, particularly when developing lake management metrics. The DOLMANT project investigated interactions between biological groups, lake water chemistry and catchment characteristics and described these relationships using statistical models that in future can be used as predictive tools. These tools can be used to help manage lake ecosystems. Although zooplankton monitoring and status is not a reporting requirement of the WFD, they are an important part of the food web as they link the trophic levels of phytoplankton, macro-invertebrates and fish. Lough Eske 5 DOLMANT project Development of Lake Management Tools Model Development The DOLMANT lake catchments were analysed in order to characterise landuse and quantify the loading of nutrients to the lakes and apportion their sources. This nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) data together with information relating to other catchment characteristics were used to inform the lake ecology models that were subsequently developed. In the catchment characterisation study, information was used from sources such as high resolution agricultural censuses, population censuses, building directories, landcover maps and soil maps to derive a series of metrics. The information was used in two ways: 1. To derive metrics that helped calculate the loading of nutrients to each lake; 2. To apportion the sources of the nutrients. The influence of these nutrient data on lake ecology was investigated. In the case of the relatively large Lough Neagh and Erne catchments, values for the metrics were also calculated for the main subcatchments. New data were collected for hydromorphological, topographical and climatic variables where necessary. For the first time a cross-border digital elevation model was created for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland allowing detailed catchment characterisation to occur across the INTERREG region. Nitrogen and phosphorus loading from the catchments Due to the availability of agricultural census data and human population data the following years were selected for detailed study regarding landuse and nutrient source apportionment. • Lough Neagh and Erne: 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010 • Lakes of the synoptic survey: 2010 A geographic information system (GIS) was used to join data from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and calculate data on landuse. Subsequently, several approaches were used to calculate nutrient loadings to the study lakes depending on information availability. At least two methods were used in each catchment for quality control purposes. Use of mass balance models allowed detailed apportionment of nutrient sources for all of the study lake catchments. Export coefficients were used (2010 data) as a quality control measure. Weekly river water chemistry monitoring allowed the use of an interpolation method for calculation of Lough Neagh nutrient loading. This means that both mean nutrient concentration and river flow data were integrated to produce a loading estimate. The major sources of nutrients in the catchments are shown in Tables 1 to 5. 6 Project summary Table 1 Sources of phosphorus and nitrogen in the synoptic lake catchments Septic Septic Sewer Excreta Fertiliser Sewer Fertiliser Area Tank Tank Excreta (kg Lake (kg N ha-1 (kg N ha-1 (kg N ha-1 (kg P ha-1 (kg P ha-1 (ha) (kg N ha-1 (kg P ha-1 P ha-1 yr-1) yr -1) yr -1) yr -1) yr -1) yr -1) yr -1) yr -1) Akibbon 755 0.00 0.46 76.86 65.32 0.00 0.08 11.83 6.08 an tSeisigh 100 0.00 0.33 1.19 1.01 0.00 0.06 0.19 0.09 Anure 3683 0.00 0.33 7.90 6.71 0.00 0.06 1.12 0.62 Auva 193 0.00 0.00 0.56 0.48 0.00 0.00 0.07 0.04 Ballydugan 886 0.00 0.68 107.24 91.14 0.00 0.12 19.56 8.48 Ballysaggart 66 7.40 1.83 59.86 50.87 2.32 0.33 10.92 4.73 Barra 1940 0.00 0.01 17.86 15.18 0.00 0.00 2.53 1.41 Bawn 665 1.23 0.90 16.67 14.17 0.39 0.16 3.01 1.32 Begny 195 0.00 1.21 100.17 85.13 0.00 0.22 18.27 7.92 Bunerky 572 0.00 0.37 4.63 3.94 0.00 0.07 0.84 0.37 Cashel Upper 105 0.00 1.00 40.81 34.69 0.00 0.18 7.45 3.23 Castlewellan 238 0.00 0.02 47.12 40.05 0.00 0.00 8.60 3.73 Corglass 1594 0.00 0.42 34.83 29.60 0.00 0.08 6.21 2.75 Cowey 388 0.00 0.54 68.67 58.36 0.00 0.10 12.53 5.43 Derg 3493 0.00 0.01 3.46 2.94 0.00 0.00 0.50 0.27 Drumgay 77 2.13 0.64 80.69 68.58 0.67 0.11 14.72 6.38 Dunglow 3776 0.71 0.22 7.24 6.15 0.22 0.04 1.03 0.57 Easky 1068 0.00 0.01 4.22 3.59 0.00 0.00 0.62 0.33 Egish 716 0.00 0.61 71.50 60.76 0.00 0.11 13.28 5.65 Eske 8011 0.00 0.26 10.82 9.20 0.00 0.05 1.60 0.86 Fad 62 0.00 0.00 0.48 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.07 0.04 Finnebrogue 673 0.06 1.05 42.97 36.52 0.02 0.19 7.84 3.40 Formal 139 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Gartan 7738 0.00 0.15 11.58 9.84 0.00 0.03 1.74 0.92 Gill 36306 0.10 0.42 28.49 24.22 0.03 0.07 4.43 2.25 Glen 12430 0.00 0.12 10.95 9.31 0.00 0.02 1.65 0.87 Glencar 3847 0.00 0.16 48.70 41.39 0.00 0.03 6.76 3.85 Golagh 466 0.00 0.08 7.22 6.14 0.00 0.01 1.25 0.57 Jenkin 27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Keel 256 0.00 0.30 6.91 5.88 0.00 0.05 1.15 0.55 Kiltooris 546 0.00 0.26 2.25 1.91 0.00 0.05 0.40 0.18 Kilturk 1116 0.02 0.64 47.81 40.63 0.01 0.11 8.72 3.78 Kindrum 428 0.00 0.66 3.04 2.58 0.00 0.12 0.51 0.24 7 DOLMANT project Development of Lake Management Tools Table 1 Sources of phosphorus and nitrogen in the