United Kingdom: projects/activities

The effects of climate change in a dynamic competitive interaction between two or more species can be bought about either as direct responses of species to change or indirectly through effects on competing species. Intertidal barnacles are ideal model organisms to test these alternative causal mechanisms, being easily censussed and directly competing for space. Single- and multi- species models will be developed for barnacles in SW England to determine whether direct or indirect mechanisms better predict responses to change. The models will include functions for space-limitation, environmental influence and, in the latter models, functions for interspecific competition. Historical data from a network of sites collected over a 40-year period will be used to develop and test the models.

Although the most visible effect of fish cage aquaculture is the output of particulate organic waste, 80% of the total nutrient losses from fish farming are plant-available as potentially eutrophicating substances. This project will assess the ability of commercially important seaweeds, cultivated in the immediate vicinity of caged fish, to reduce the impact of such nutrient releases. The algae cultivated in high nutrient sites will be tested as a food source for humans and for cultivated shellfish, and a model of the distribution of dissolved contaminants from sea-cage fish farms will be developed to predict the impact of introducing algal cultivation at any site.

Distribution • What is the current distribution of coral colonies in the North Sea? • Where are coral colonies located on the structures? • Do any colonies show evidence of exposure to drill cuttings? Monitoring & Environmental Recording • What hydrodynamic regime and levels of suspended particulate material are coral colonies exposed to? • Does the coral skeleton retain an archive of any past contamination? • Does skeletal growth vary over time and does this correlate with any past contamination? • How variable is the rate of coral growth and does this correlate with any environmental variables? Environmental Sensitivity • What effect does increased sediment load have on coral behaviour and physiology? • What effect does exposure to discharges (e.g. cuttings and produced water) have on coral behaviour and physiology? • Are such exposures realistic in the field?

(a) To assemble and further develop an integrative methodology for in situ evaluation of the effects of turbidity and hypoxia on fish physiological and/or behavioural performance. (b) To determine experimentally the threshold values beyond which oxygen and turbidity levels are liable to alter fish physiological and/or behavioural performance. (c) To integrate the results obtained in a conceptual and predictive model. Main expected achievements: [1] establishment of a link between laboratory studies, studies in mesocosms and field studies, using the most advanced techniques for monitoring behaviour in various environmental conditions. [2] an understanding of the impact of water turbidity and oxygenation on three major components of the behavioural repertoire of fish: habitat selection, predator-prey interactions and schooling-aggregation. [3] Predictive ability for the effect of the environmental variables studied on ecologically relevant behaviour.

The high Arctic contains delicate, relatively pristine ecosystems that are increasingly subject to exported aerial pollution (e.g. nitrogen) and higher than average climatic temperature change. Together these factors may potentially change important biogeochemical processes (e.g. the cycling of carbon and nitrogen) and ecosystem dynamics. This project involving the University of Nottingham, The British Geological Survey and IACR Rothamsted is now entering its second field season. The project concentrates on the release and the subsequent fate of N, entering the tundra ecosystem, as a pulse during the spring thaw. The questions we propose addressing are (i) how important is this event in transferring enhanced N deposition to tundra ecosystems, and how much is lost as run-off to lacustrine and inshore marine environments, (ii) how does enhanced N affect the carbon cycle (i.e. plant growth, decomposition processes) and (iii) what is the impact on soil N mineralizationimmobilization dynamics. Two plot experiments have been set up at contrasting vegetation sites around Kongsfjorden (Brandalspyntyn and Ny-London). We have simulated the release of N from the snowpack by applying 15N label as the snow has melted. An accurate audit regarding the fate of this snowpack N can then be made (i.e. does it remain in the soil, enter the tundra flora and soil microbiology or is it lost from the system). In addition, using techniques for combined 18O+15N analysis of nitrate, we can distinguish between atmospheric- and soil-derived nitrate. This will allow us to assess and source losses of N from the tundra during the brief summer growing season. These complementary approaches will provide a quantitative understanding of the fate of deposited N in the pristine Arctic environment. The overall aim will be to parameterize an N-flux model for this important ecosystem.

The high Arctic contains delicate, relatively pristine ecosystems that are increasingly subject to exported aerial pollution (e.g. nitrogen) and higher than average climatic temperature change. Together these factors may potentially change important biogeochemical processes (e.g. the cycling of carbon and nitrogen) and ecosystem dynamics. This project involving the University of Nottingham, The British Geological Survey and IACR Rothamsted is now entering its second field season. The project concentrates on the release and the subsequent fate of N, entering the tundra ecosystem, as a pulse during the spring thaw. The questions we propose addressing are (i) how important is this event in transferring enhanced N deposition to tundra ecosystems, and how much is lost as run-off to lacustrine and inshore marine environments, (ii) how does enhanced N affect the carbon cycle (i.e. plant growth, decomposition processes) and (iii) what is the impact on soil N mineralizationimmobilization dynamics. Two plot experiments have been set up at contrasting vegetation sites around Kongsfjorden (Brandalspyntyn and Ny-London). We have simulated the release of N from the snowpack by applying 15N label as the snow has melted. An accurate audit regarding the fate of this snowpack N can then be made (i.e. does it remain in the soil, enter the tundra flora and soil microbiology or is it lost from the system). In addition, using techniques for combined 18O+15N analysis of nitrate, we can distinguish between atmospheric- and soil-derived nitrate. This will allow us to assess and source losses of N from the tundra during the brief summer growing season. These complementary approaches will provide a quantitative understanding of the fate of deposited N in the pristine Arctic environment. The overall aim will be to parameterize an N-flux model for this important ecosystem.

This project will construct detailed phosphorus budgets for polar catchments occupied by glaciers and freshwater systems undergoing rapid response to climate warming. These are Midre Lovenbreen, Svalbard; Jebsen Creek, Signy Island (maritime Antarctic) and Storglaciaren, northern Sweden. The relationship between meltwater production, pathway and phosphorus liberation from glacial sediments will be examined closely. Emphasis will be given to phosphorus sorption dynamics in turbid glacial streams and their receiving waters (fjords and lakes).

To determine where different types of impurities (primarily specific inorganic chemical species and microbes) are located on a microspopic scale within the ice and what controls their distribution.

Use of digital stereo photogrammetry to spatially quantify through time the loss of ice mass on Midre Lovenbreen, Austre Broggerbreen and Slakbreen. Pairs of stereo areial photographs from each glacier will be processed to create digital elevation models from at least three periods over the last 30-50 years, and differencing them will give a highly accurate view of glacier retreat through time which can be linked through models to climate change analysis.

Arctic islands of genetic diversity or fragments of an ancient clone. The history and future of Dryas octopetala in a changing environment.

Seasonal ozone depletion in now occurring both in the Arctic and Antarctic, thus increasing levels of UV-B radiation reaching polar bilogical systems.

1. To quantify benthic community parameters for all size classes of fauna across the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) 2. To make a detailed assessment across the OMZ of a) sediment accumulation, mixing and irrigation rates and depths and b) environmental factors acting as controls on faunal activity 3. To characterise solid phase and porewater geochemistry of sediments across the OMZ 4. To assess a) faunal digestive Organic Matter (OM) alteration, b) the relative importance of chemo- and photosynthetic food sources, and c) benthic food web structure, across the OMZ 5. To determine porewater profiles and benthic solute fluxes in situ, and to assess faunal OM assimilation and trophic relationships by monitoring tracers during shipboard and in situ incubations 6. To obtain high resolution porewater profiles of oxygen and other key analytes, free of pressure and other effects potentially introduced by core recovery 7. To determine in situ oxygen consumption rates and benthic fluxes 8. To use labelled tracers to assess mixing and irrigation rates, faunal OM assimilation, and size-selective ingestion and mixing 9.To determine sediment denitrification and sulfate reduction rates and their contributions to OM remineralisation

1. To undertake a review of procedures used in the regulation and monitoring of marine cage fish farms in Norway, Scotland and elsewhere to be used as the basis for creating an appropriate set of protocols, monitoring systems and techniques for the control of such farms in Mediterranean conditions 2. To carry out a field research programme to provide appropriate data on the environmental impact of marine cage fish farms in a range of conditions in the eastern Mediterranean. 3. To develop a predictive model to simulate the environmental response at Mediterranean sea cage farms to differing cage stocking levels and feeding regimes. This will be designed as a management tool for both the industry and regulatory authorities.

1. To compare temporal influences of environmental variables (e.g. depth temperature, contaiminats) on species and families 2. To corroborate inferences made from the previous two datasets. We hope to determine whether temperature is still the most important variable influencing the macrofauna 3. To analyse between temporal and spatial trends to determine whether there has been any significant change in the benthic community structure, especially at stations near past exploration activity 4. To compare results with those from the South of the Faroe Islands being collated by Daniel Jacobsen of the University of Copenhagen.

1. To generate high-resolution quantitative palaeoceanographic/palaeoclimatic data from NE Atlantic coastal/shelf sites for the last 2000 years using a multidisciplinary approach 2. To develop novel palaeoclimatic tools for shallow marine settings by (i) calibrating the proxy data against instrumental datasets, (ii) contributing to transfer function development, and (iii) then to extrapolate back beyond the timescale of the instrumental data using the palaeoclimate record 3. To investigate the link between late Holocene climate variability detected in the shelf/coastal regions of western Europe and the variability of the oceanic heat flux associated with the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation, and to compare such variability with existing high-resolution terrestrial proxies to help determine forcing mechanisms behind such climate change 4. To lay a foundation for the identification of hazards and resources linked with, or forced by, such climate change.

1. To use a combination of archival and contemporary data to develop and test hypotheses on the impact of climatic change on rocky intertidal animals and plants. 2. Forecast future community changes based on Met. Office Hadley centre models and UKCIP models. 3. Establish a low-cost fit-for-purpose network to enable regular updates of climatic impact projections. 4. Assess and report likely consequences of predicted changes on coastal ecosystems. To provide general contextual time-series data to support marine management and monitoring. 5. Evaluate use of intertidal indicator species as sustainability indices. Disseminate the results as widely as possible. 6. Provide a basis for the development of a pan-European monitoring network.

1. Establish a network to measure environmental change in marine waters by undertaking long-term research and monitoring 2. Maintain and enhance existing long-term research programmes 3. Restart important discontinued long-term research programmes 4. Develop a quality controlled database of long-term marine data series 5. Deliver and interpret long-term and broad scale contextual information to inform water quality monitoring 6. Demonstrate the benefits of preserving and networking long-term time series programmes

1. Observations of the physics of vertical and open boundary exchange in Regions of Restricted Exchanges (REEs), leading to improved parameterisation of these processes in research and simplified models. 2. Study of the phytoplankton and pelagic micro-heterotrophs responsible for production and decomposition of organic material, and of sedimentation, benthic processes and benthic-pelagic coupling, in RREs, with the results expressed as basin-scale parameters. 3. Construction of closed budgets and coupled physical-biological research models for nutrient (especially nitrogen) and organic carbon cycling in RREs, allowing tests of hypotheses about biogeochemistry, water quality and the balance of organisms. 4. Construction of simplified 'screening' models for the definition, assessment and prediction of eutrophication, involving collaboration with 'end-users', and the use of these models to analyse the costs and benefits of amelioration scenarios.