Ecoscience Day

Teaching teenagers about the values of wetlands sounds thrilling doesnt it?

Well, surprisingly it was. Especially when they were actually enthusiastic about what you were telling them. I almost felt like a scientist

We had four set ups to help teach the kids;

The first was teaching them about the composition of wetland soil. A tray of peat soil and a tray of common garden soil were used to contrast the differences. After putting on latex gloves (which the kids seemed to love) they were able to feel the two soils and then make soil slurries in polystyrene cups. The slurries were then used to measure the pH and conductivity - primarily to show the differences in nutrient availability between the two.

The second was a variety of carniverous plants that can be found in wetlands. The smaller plants were placed in clear plastic boxes with lids so we could feed flies to the plants. The kids could then see how the plants obtained nutrients from the flies - trapping them - then digesting them with enzymes.

The most technical of the displays was a constructed wetland (created by Wayne Watkins). Using peat and sphagnum moss we passed dirty water through the "wetland" to show how they can be used to purify water. 

The kids were also told about the role of wetlands and the nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle. With the use of a simple board we could show the kids the carbon cycle (which many were learning for their GCSEs) and show them where wetlands slotted into the cycle. Overall it was a great two days! Hopefully we inspired them to continue with science and also keep in mind the importance of wetlands!

 

Cefni Resevoir & Cors Bodeilio

As part of the MSc we are learning about the benefits of constructed/treatment wetlands. Natural wetlands provide many ecosystem services with a major one being natural biofilters removing excess nutrients from water ways. A treatment wetland can be developed with aims of removing pollutants from waste waters via sedimentation and uptake through the wetland plants.

This field trip started at the Cefni Reservoir, which is a small reservoir in the centre of Anglesey managed by welsh water. The small rivers and streams entering the Cefni have been identified as potential areas to create mini-constructed wetlands. These wetlands could help improve water quality entering the reservoir and also improve areas for biodiversity.

To determine where the constructed wetlands would be best placed water samples were taken from each of the inflows, where they would be taken back to the lab to be tested for pollutant levels. (This was done prior to our field field trip by experts, we also took samples to get a feel for the process).

Different constructed wetland systems would be more efficient at removing certain pollutants/excess nutrients than others...

Free water surface system (FWS)

Sandec/Eawag depiction of a FWS

A FWS constructed wetland allows water to flow above ground, exposing the water to the atmosphere and direct sunlight. Meaning there are aerobic and anaerobic zones for the complete removal of Nitrogen from the system (one of the main pollutants entering the Cefni reservoir). 

Moving to the other side of the reservoir we estimated the flow rate of one of the streams into the reservoir using a very high tech method, which involved a spade, pipe, bucket, jug and stop watch. A small dam was created with the pipe through the middle (as seen in the picture on the left), a small amount of water (around 1L) was collected from the outflow using the jug at timed intervals - which could then be used to calculate the flow rate.

Cors Bodeilio
After discussing potential treatment wetland ideas to help purify the water entering the Cefni Reservoir we travelled to Cors Bodeilio which we had previously visited during the LIFE Conference - a blog post on that can be found here. The LIFE project aimed to restore the delicate fen habitat at Cors Bodeilio with aims to restore the peatlands not only for carbon storage but also to store and purify water, before releasing it at a manageable rate to provide drinking water to Cefni reservoir.

There are a number of constructed wetlands at Cors Bodeilio that remove the nutrients from the surrounding farmlands to prevent eutrophication of the natural fen habitat. These wetlands have however been subject to subsidence and more funding is required to restore the wetlands to full working order - which is key for maintaining the delicate fen.

Day out with CEH

As part of my MSc I have to undertake a research project with a company partner. My partner is the Center of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). My project will focus on green house gas emissions from peatlands. Britain’s peatlands hold most of our terrestrial carbon stock, and play an active role in climate regulation through uptake of carbon and emission of methane. Much of this resource has been impacted by land-management activities, such as drainage, burning and intensive agriculture, and the protection and restoration of UK peat lands is crucial. To measure gas emissions from different areas at Cors Erddreiniog (blog post here) columns were inserted into ground - which a gas measurement machine (Los Gatos) can be placed on to measure the gas flux. I went out with a few of the CEH crew to set up some of these columns - placing them in areas of the site with different management techniques and then trying to stick them in the ground with minimal disturbance, for which the GHG flux could be measured over the summer when I start my project!

Wetlands... sent from above?

It's no secret that our weather is getting worse, this time last year we were blanketed by a thick layer of snow, and now we are facing the third brutal storm in less than a month. Both events are abnormal for the UK, could climate change be to blame? Chief MET scientist Dame Julia Slingo that "all the evidence" is pointing toward climate change as an explanation for the extreme weather.
With rain continuing to batter the UK causing chaos pretty much everywhere, is there anything that could be done to reduce the catastrophic effects of the worst floods we've had in decades?
Well thankfully, David Cameron has come to the rescue with the gallant statement "Money is no object in this relief effort. Whatever money is needed we will spend it." So worry not, everything that has been damaged in the record-breaking deluge will be fixed or replaced... until next time.
The main methods currently in place to reduce flooding include;

Dredging - A process where silt is removed from a river bed to increase it's water capacity. The method is costly and potentially harmful to the environment.

Flood Barriers - Temporary demount-able lightweight metal structures that are used to keep rising water levels at bay.

Look pretty don't they? Sure they work, but they are a temporary solution to a more permanent problem which needs to be addressed. Funny how the leaders of this country only begin listening to people when disaster strikes. Speaking on a visit to Purley (a severely flooded town on the River Thames) Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "It's clear that flood defence needs to be more of a priority for government. If there's one thing we know about the effects of extreme weather, it is that the costs, financial, human and other costs, of not acting are much greater than the costs of acting, and it is a totally false economy to say, 'Don't act'."


The government needs to start acting now listening to scientists who suggest natural flood management systems, as prevention is always better than a cure.

The welsh government is planning to invest £20m into flood control, but how exactly would this help? The Minister for Natural Resources, Alun Davies, has broken it down like this...

• £7 million for flood defense improvements to protect 627 homes and 72 businesses in Crindau, Newport 
• £6 million for river management works and improvements to tidal defenses to reduce flood risk for 387 homes, 52 businesses and the fire station in Roath, Cardiff 
• £1 million to fund the replacement of flood defense walls that will help protect 127 homes, 15 businesses and the main road through Penclawdd, Swansea
• £1 million for improvements to tidal embankments along the Severn Estuary to reduce the flood risk to part of the M4 motorway, 833 houses and 197 businesses in Portland Ground and Tabbs Gouth, Newport 
• £5 million to improve existing flood defense walls that will help protect 166 homes, 102 businesses, the fire station and ambulance station in Dolgellau, Gwynedd

Replacement, improvement and management of man made defence systems seem to be the key words in this list but could this investment be put to better use elsewhere, for example in conserving and improving wetland systems?

Could wetland systems be a natural way to prevent flooding?

A joint statement prepared by English Nature, the Environment Agency the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Forestry Commission state that

Drainage of floodplains is a relatively recent historic phenomenon. For example, the Somerset Moors were largely untouched before 1200, and systematic drainage of large areas did not get underway until about 1770. By the 1930’s only a quarter of historic floodplain wetlands remained in England, mainly in the form of periodically flooded grassland and grazing marsh. The vast majority of natural floodplain woodland has also been lost.

Somerset has been severely affected by the recent floods, would there have been a different outcome if the Somerset moors weren't drained all those years ago? Probably.

Wetland systems are often undervalued in the UK, peat-lands alongside rivers can act as natural sponges trapping water during periods of heavy rainfall. Wetland vegetation slow the speed of flood waters distributing them slowly, reducing erosion and flash flooding. In areas where peat-land has been drained in favour of agriculture (Somerset Moors) the risk of flash flooding, much like we've seen in the past month, is increased.

Preserving and restoring wetlands, together with other natural practices such as the re-introduction of the Beaver into the UK (BBC article here) can provide a valuable level of flood control which should be taken into serious consideration if the government want to prevent flooding in the future.

Pumlumon Gully Mire

Pumlumon is the highest point of the Cambrian Mountains in Wales, and forms an SSSI containing areas of gully mire and blanket bog, which both contain PEAT! As all of us wetlanders should know by now - as an ecosystem peatlands are extremely important as long term stores of carbon. Globally, peatlands are large sinks of carbon (C) storing up to 550 Gt of C, with northern peatlands storing around 455 Gt C (1 gigatonne is equivalent to 1 peta gram (Pg) = 1015 g). With continuing rises in CO2 emissions it is important that peatlands are properly managed/restored in order to mitigate climate change.

Pumlumon can store flood waters. Source: www.montwt.co.uk

This aim of this field trip was to collect peat samples that could be analysed back in the Bangor lab. Two samples were collected; the first, from an area that was drained in the past by Freeman et al., (1997) who diverted water flow, to stimulate drought conditions, and the effect they would have on the nitrogen cycle within the wetland. The second sample was taken from below at a control site that was untouched. Unfortunately I was unable to attend this field trip, but was told it was extremely cold and very wet, and had my samples collected by Joe! These were then taken back to the lab where we would analyse them for our Lab Reports.

Work to preserve the area

The Pumlumon Project is a flagship project lead by the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust aiming to preserve and protect the site which stretches across 40,000ha of the Cambrian Mountain range. The project has eight main aims;

The work can be described as having eight elements:

1. Carbon Storage - Rewetting of peatland by blocking ditches to improve their condition and promote carbon storage via slow decomposition.
2. Reconnecting habitats- Creating links between habitats (corridors) to allow plants and animals to spread between different areas that may have been cut off by roads or farmland.
3. Storing flood water - Improving bog conditions to allow better storage of water to prevent floods downstream,
4. Bringing back wildlife - Aiding recovery of species with specific work targeted at the must vulnerable species.
5. Changing grazing patterns - Introducing more cattle, and reducing sheep numbers to help promote varied landscape, as well as helping farmers diversify with conservation-grade, slower growing hill beef.
6. Recreating habitats - Restoring degraded habitat and creating new habitats with a mixture of traditional farming techniques and new technologies to increase wildlife interest.
7. Developing Green Tourism - Providing better and more appropriately sited accommodation, visitor centres, websites, leaflets and signs, to increase people’s understanding of the aims of the project, and also increase visitor spending in the area and the incomes of local people.
8. Involving communities - Working with local communities to identify and implement projects to improve their local environment. To help diversify local business and help increase local incomes, we will help to set up some local value-added food schemes linking tourism businesses with local farmers.

Dune Slacks at Aberffraw

Anglesey contains some of the finest examples of coastal dune ecosystems in the UK. So what is a "dune slack" I hear you scream... well don't ask me I've never heard of them.
Taken from the Joint Nature Conservation Committee..

Dune slacks are low-lying areas within dune systems that are seasonally flooded and where nutrient levels are low. They occur primarily on the larger dune systems in the UK, especially in the west and north, where the wetter climate favours their development when compared with the generally warmer and/or drier dune systems of continental Europe. The range of communities found is considerable and depends on the structure of the dune system, the successional stage of the dune slack, the chemical composition of the dune sand, and the prevailing climatic conditions.

Dune systems at aberffraw Source: geograph.org.uk

We visited the dune slacks near Aberffraw with CEH so we could get an idea of what exactly they are. The Aberffraw Dunes are Sites of Scientific Interest (SSSI) and also Special Area of Conservation (SAC) as well as being an Area of Outstanding Beauty (AONB). We were taken around the site in two groups with Jenny - a PhD student and Hilary. We then examined the dunes in a number of ways; using Differential Levelling to determine the groundwater elevation from sea level, taking soil and water samples (to be analysed at a later date) and undertaking a botanical survey using quadrats.

These techniques were used by Jenny for her 3 year thesis on the effects nitrogen were having on the dunes as well as changes to the water table that are partly attributable to the growth of commercial forest in the surrounding catchment. Dune slacks can be classified into different systems dependent on the vegetative communities found. The NVC classification is as follows (source);

• SD13  Sagina nodosa – Bryum pseudotriquetrum dune-slack community,

• SD14  Salix repens – Campylium stellatum dune-slack community,

• SD15  Salix repens – Calliergon cuspidatum dune-slack community,

• SD16  Salix repens – Holcus lanatus dune-slack community,

• SD17  Potentilla anserina – Carex nigra dune-slack community.

With Hilary's help we were able to determine the composition of the dune slack system as SD14-15. We reached this decision by using 1m2 quadrats and identifying the species within each quadrat, as well as the percentage cover of each species, giving us an overall estimation of biodiversity.

Following the biodiversity measurments we went on to calculate the water table elevation from three dipwells on-site. Using a GPS system we located each dipwell, then measured the water level height using a "dipper" that emitted a beeping sound when in contact with water as well as taking a water sample from each dipwell using a pump. To measure the elevation of each dipwell a Theodolite was used;
"a Theodolite is a precision instrument for measuring angles in the horizontal and vertical planes"
This provided us with accurate measurements for determination of water table height.

Beaver Hunters

Beavers have been reintroduced in Scotland (near Dundee), so naturally we went to see what they'd been up to and what effect they'd had on the land! The European Beavers were introduced at the Bamff estate in 2002, around 450 years after they had become extinct in Scotland. They inhabit a 32 acre semi-natural area of woodland and wetland.

Early morning mist outside the hostel

So what did we do?

Site 1 near the trees

The main aim of the trip was to collect data from a variety of sites to whether the Beaver introduction had been a success in the eyes of wetlanders. Luckily we managed to study 4 different areas (we only hoped for 3 beforehand). At each site we tested the pH, conductivity, soil temperature, gas emissions from the soil and the redox readings of the soil, as well as taking water samples (where possible) and also soil samples. Each was repeated a further 4 times, by 3 groups, an upland group, water level group and lowland group.

The 4 sites were all slightly different; Site 1 was close to the Beaver lodge near the open pool of water, Site 2 was close to a beaver dam down stream, Site 3 was next to an artificial drainage pool and Site 4 was upstream. The data should help us get an insight into what affect the Beavers have on the land.

A paper from 2008 was written about the implications of regrowth of trees after felling by the beavers and can be found here.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of the wonderful creatures (we probably scared them away) but it could be clearly seen that they inhabited the area!

Hopefully one day in the near future we could be seeing a reintroduction of Beavers into Wales, now wouldn't that be great?