Integration of catchment and coastal processes
Research in this theme focuses on flows and interactions between land and sea. Research in shelf sea processes, including turbulence and vertical mixing, is integral to understanding the influence of the land on the biogeochemistry of coastal waters and pelagic primary production.
-
Dynamic modelling is used to improve understanding of the atmosphere-land-river-sea linkages of water, sediment, pathogen, macronutrient and greenhouse gas fluxes, particularly in wetlands and in the river-estuary transition zone.
-
The £2.8M HEFCW interdisciplinary Aberystwyth-Bangor Centre for Catchment & Coastal Research programme (2006-2012) centred on the Dyfi and Conwy rivers and adjoining shelf sea habitats.
BEAA research in the field of integration of catchment and coastal processes has been heavily supported by NERC. Projects range from those:
-
In freshwater catchment systems, such as: Characterisation of the nature, origins and ecological significance of dissolved organic matter in freshwater ecosystems, led by Professor Davey Jones in collaboration with Professor Chris Freeman, Dr Nathalie Fenner and Professor Peter Golyshin.
-
That span the catchment-estuary-coastal transition, including The multi-scale response of water quality, biodiversity and C sequestration to coupled macronutrient cycling from source to sea (https://sites.google.com/site/turf2surfproject/) in collaboration with the University of Reading and Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, with research leaders in BEAA including Professor Colin Jago, Professor Paul Withers, Professor Davey Jones, Professor Tom DeLuca, Dr Sheila Malham and Dr James McDonald; and the joint Bangor-Aberystwyth project Impacts of hydrological variability on material transfers through the River-Estuary Transition Zone led by Professor Colin Jago and Professor Mark Macklin with collaborators including Professor Hilary Kennedy, Dr Jaco Baas and Dr Simon Neill.
-
In coastal and marine environments, such as: Realistic sedimentary bedform prediction: incorporating physical and biological cohesion led by Dr Jaco Baas; IMMERSE, a consortium project on marine ecosystem change, and Biogeochemistry, macronutrient and carbon cycling in the benthic layer led in BEAA by Dr Jan Hiddink; Climate change and the costs of survival in two species of marine crabs with contrasting abilities to compensate for environmental change led by Dr Nia Whiteley in collaboration with Dr Shelagh Malham and Dr Luis Gimenez; and Towards an integrative theory of recruitment in marine benthic organisms led by Dr Stuart Jenkins in collaboration with Dr Luis Gimenez.
Notable joint Bangor-Aberystwyth papers in the area of Integration of catchment and coastal processes include:
Bussell, JA; Gidman, EA; Causton, DR; Gwynn-Jones, D; Malham, SK; Jones, MLM; Reynolds, B; Seed, R (2008) Changes in the immune response and metabolic fingerprint of the mussel, Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus) in response to lowered salinity and physical stress. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 358: 78-85. DOI: 10.1016/j.jembe.2008.01.018
Coscia, I; Robins, PE; Porter, JS; Malham, SK; Ironside, JE (2013) Modelled larval dispersal and measured gene flow: seascape genetics of the common cockle Cerastoderma edule in the southern Irish Sea. Conservation Genetics 14: 451-466. DOI: 10.1007/s10592-012-0404-4
Further details about staff working in this area: