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Mapping the combined risk of agricultural fine sediment input and accumulation for riverine ecosystems across England and Wales

Mapping the combined risk of agricultural fine sediment input and accumulation for riverine ecosystems across England and Wales
Mapping the combined risk of agricultural fine sediment input and accumulation for riverine ecosystems across England and Wales

Fine sediment inputs from agricultural sources are a potential threat to freshwater ecosystems and may impact on the ability of EU members' states to achieve environmental targets under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). An index (the Agricultural Sediment Risk index or ASR) representing the risk of agricultural fine sediment accumulation in rivers was produced using estimates of sediment inputs from the process-based PSYCHIC model and predictions of fine sediment accumulation using River Habitat Survey data. The ASR was mapped across the entire river network of England and Wales. The ASR map and index were combined with a national dataset of fisheries surveys using logistic regression to test its relevance to freshwater biota. The ASR was strongly associated with a group of species sensitive to fine sediment inputs including salmon and trout. Another group of species including roach and perch showed a positive association with low levels of agricultural sediment inputs potentially due to their impacts on predators and competitors. The proposed approach demonstrates how existing national monitoring data and sediment pressure models can be combined to produce an assessment of risk to aquatic ecosystems from agricultural fine sediment sources at a national scale that can be used alongside WFD classification tools to identify potential causative pressures and design remedial actions.

Agricultural source, Diffuse pollution, Fine sediment, Fish habitat, Geostatistics, Risk assessment, River Habitat Survey
1470-160X
209-221
Naura, M.
c9c6dbc6-5f30-4f57-a0ee-282418f18dd8
Hornby, D. D.
75cfaf57-72c1-4392-a78c-89b4b1033dca
Collins, A. L.
700e5f6a-4de3-4406-ad7a-d9d8ec0a5069
Sear, D. A.
ccd892ab-a93d-4073-a11c-b8bca42ecfd3
Hill, C.
8b101c57-b1cf-4c65-af58-7adb48e0183b
Jones, J. I.
3fee8ba5-bb3b-41b0-bb74-83c2bc858301
Naden, P. S.
849d8314-8369-4bd6-bfb8-fafdd7f08823
Naura, M.
c9c6dbc6-5f30-4f57-a0ee-282418f18dd8
Hornby, D. D.
75cfaf57-72c1-4392-a78c-89b4b1033dca
Collins, A. L.
700e5f6a-4de3-4406-ad7a-d9d8ec0a5069
Sear, D. A.
ccd892ab-a93d-4073-a11c-b8bca42ecfd3
Hill, C.
8b101c57-b1cf-4c65-af58-7adb48e0183b
Jones, J. I.
3fee8ba5-bb3b-41b0-bb74-83c2bc858301
Naden, P. S.
849d8314-8369-4bd6-bfb8-fafdd7f08823

Naura, M., Hornby, D. D., Collins, A. L., Sear, D. A., Hill, C., Jones, J. I. and Naden, P. S. (2016) Mapping the combined risk of agricultural fine sediment input and accumulation for riverine ecosystems across England and Wales. Ecological Indicators, 70, 209-221. (doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.03.055).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Fine sediment inputs from agricultural sources are a potential threat to freshwater ecosystems and may impact on the ability of EU members' states to achieve environmental targets under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). An index (the Agricultural Sediment Risk index or ASR) representing the risk of agricultural fine sediment accumulation in rivers was produced using estimates of sediment inputs from the process-based PSYCHIC model and predictions of fine sediment accumulation using River Habitat Survey data. The ASR was mapped across the entire river network of England and Wales. The ASR map and index were combined with a national dataset of fisheries surveys using logistic regression to test its relevance to freshwater biota. The ASR was strongly associated with a group of species sensitive to fine sediment inputs including salmon and trout. Another group of species including roach and perch showed a positive association with low levels of agricultural sediment inputs potentially due to their impacts on predators and competitors. The proposed approach demonstrates how existing national monitoring data and sediment pressure models can be combined to produce an assessment of risk to aquatic ecosystems from agricultural fine sediment sources at a national scale that can be used alongside WFD classification tools to identify potential causative pressures and design remedial actions.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 21 March 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 23 June 2016
Published date: 1 November 2016
Keywords: Agricultural source, Diffuse pollution, Fine sediment, Fish habitat, Geostatistics, Risk assessment, River Habitat Survey

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 433301
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/433301
ISSN: 1470-160X
PURE UUID: 86b9b692-d05b-42f8-aa5d-0e78d4ef5129
ORCID for D. D. Hornby: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6295-1360
ORCID for D. A. Sear: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0191-6179
ORCID for C. Hill: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4344-6734

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 13 Aug 2019 16:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:42

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Contributors

Author: M. Naura
Author: D. D. Hornby ORCID iD
Author: A. L. Collins
Author: D. A. Sear ORCID iD
Author: C. Hill ORCID iD
Author: J. I. Jones
Author: P. S. Naden

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