A national macroinvertebrate dataset collected for the biomonitoring of Ireland\u2019s river network, 2007\u20132018

Hugh B Feeley,Wayne Trodd,Shane O' Boyle,Gary Free,Ruth Little,Bryan Kennedy,Neasa Mcdonnell,Catherine Bradley,Caroline Wynne,Caroline Plant

doi:10.1038/s41597-020-00618-8

Abstract

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Ireland is responsible for the ecological monitoring and assessment of 37 hydrometric areas covering 46 river catchments and over 13,000 km of river channel nationwide. The national river monitoring program commenced in 1971 and has developed further since 2007 into the National Rivers Water Framework Directive (WFD) Monitoring Program following the implementation of the WFD across the European Union. The monitoring program is designed to obtain sufficiently representative information to assess ecological quality for each water body assessed. Consequently, macroinvertebrate data have been collected at over 2,900 river survey stations on a minimum 3-year cycle to fulfil these requirements. While the EPA has collected these data for water quality assessments we recognize that the data have value beyond this one purpose. We provide a summary of how these 10,987 data records, covering the years 2007 to 2018, have been collected and used to deepen understanding of water quality, biodiversity and general ecological health of Ireland’s river network.

Highlights

Background & SummaryIreland has over 84,800 km of river channel with streams, rivers and tributaries flowing from their headwaters to the sea through a vast network of channels
All the major rivers and their significant tributaries are included in the monitoring program which has been carried out on a continuous basis since 1971 when 2,900 km of river channel was first surveyed
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for overseeing the Water Framework Directive (WFD) monitoring of biological elements, which in rivers focuses mainly on the assessment of aquatic macroinvertebrates to aid in the establishment of ecological status

Summary

Introduction

Background & SummaryIreland (see usage notes) has over 84,800 km of river channel with streams, rivers and tributaries flowing from their headwaters to the sea through a vast network of channels. The national river monitoring program, established in Ireland in 1971 by An Foras Forbartha (succeeded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1993), is designed to provide representative information on the entire river network through the monitoring of discrete sections of river called water bodies. The EPA is responsible for overseeing the WFD monitoring of biological elements, which in rivers focuses mainly on the assessment of aquatic macroinvertebrates to aid in the establishment of ecological status (see Methods for more information).

Results

Conclusion