Date of Award

30-8-2023

Document Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

Masters of Science (Research)

Department

Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences

First Advisor

Fiona O Flynn

Second Advisor

Dr Deborah Mc Cormick

Third Advisor

Dr Latina Steele

Abstract

The Dingle Peninsula, a dynamic coastal ecosystem in the southwest of Ireland, provides an appropriate location to study the delicate balance that exists between human activities i.e., tourism, agriculture, and forestry, and their resulting impacts on the environment. Thus, the adjacent Feohanagh, Milltown, and Owenmore catchments were analysed via three-minute kick-samples divided proportionally by substrata for macroinvertebrate community composition, in-situ physico-chemical measurements for water quality parameters, and CORINE classification of land use and land cover (LULC). The overall goal was to identify the effect of LULC on water quality using macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. The presence of sensitive or tolerant macroinvertebrates within a catchment in relation to variant environmental conditions is perhaps the most effective indicator in understanding the current health of the river. The three catchments were investigated at a catchment-scale to assess the effects of LULC on the macroinvertebrate communities. The detailed data of LULC effects could potentially be applicable to other rivers and simplify the efforts of Ireland’s obligations set forth in the EU Water Framework Directive. The results of the study indicated that the variation of LULC, particularly pasture, had a significant negative effect on water quality and macroinvertebrate communities throughout the Milltown and Feohanagh catchments; and natural grassland appeared to have a positive effect throughout the Feohanagh catchment. All three catchments in the Dingle Peninsula were assigned a (Q3-4) quality rating, and therefore considered unsatisfactory, slightly polluted, and in terms of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) of ‘moderate’ status.

Comments

Additional Advisers - Dr. Kirk Bartholomew, Dr. Mark Beekey

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Access Level

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Coverage

July 2024

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