ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF ACIDIFICATION ON FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS.

THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE SURVIVAL AND PRODUCTIVITY OF SEVERAL AQUATIC INVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN PONDS AND STREAMS OF AN ACID IMPACTED CATCHMENT IN CENTRAL ENGLAND.

FOCUS WILL BE PLACED ON TWO RELATED RESEARCH PARTS:

1) FIELD-BASED INVESTIGATIONS ON CHANGES IN COMMUNITY SPECIES COMPOSITION AND ON BIOMASS, RELATIVE ABUNDANCE, PHENOLOGY AND EMERGENCE OF INVERTEBRATES, WITHIN A NUMBER OF ACIDIC SITES.

2) LABORATORY STUDIES TO IDENTIFY TOLERANCE LEVELS OF CERTAIN ORGANISMS, E.G. CORIXIDAE AND EPHEMEROPTERA, TO ACIDIFICATION AND RELATED ALUMINIUM TOXICITY.

THE RESULTS OF THIS PROJECT WILL BE DISCUSSED ON THE BASIS OF WATER CHEMISTRY AND RAINFALL DATA AVAILABLE FROM ONGOING MONITORING EXERCISES.