Freshwater Biology @ QUB
Chris Harrod
School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University of Belfast
c.harrod@qub.ac.uk
www.fsbi.org.uk/2010
School of Biological Sciences: outline
Organised into 2 separate research clusters:
• Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour and
Environmental Economics
• Molecular Biosciences
• Microbial ecology & functional biology
• Identification, characterisation and function of aquatic
toxins
• Parasitology
Freshwater research in EEBEE
• 8 academics & > 15 postgraduate research students active in
freshwater biology across Ireland, the UK, Europe and further
afield
• Broad scale
– Molecule to ecosystem
– Many different taxa (animal bias)
Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour & Environmental
Economics
• Ecology
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Invasion ecology
Autecology
Limnology
Ecosystem function
Conservation
Fisheries management
• Scientific support to Lough
Neagh eel fishery
– Environmental impact
assessment
– Theoretical biology
– Taxonomy
– Water quality
• Evolution
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Phylogeography
Speciation & rapid evolution
Population genetics
Conservation genetics
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Margaritifera margaritifera
Pollan
Arctic charr
Brown trout
– Life history specialisation in
invasive species
– Divergent migratory
components
• Eels
• Trout
• Lampreys
Ecology, Evolution, Behaviour & Environmental
Economics
• Behaviour
– Individual specialisation
– Interactions between
native & invasive species
• Functional response curves
– Telemetry
• Acoustic & radio
• GPS
• Depth & accelerometer
– Foraging ecology of
piscivorous predators
• Environmental Economics
– Economic valuation of
environmental and natural
resources.
• Willingness to pay for ferox
trout conservation
Undergraduate aquatic ecology research
Current activities
Support for Lough Neagh fishery:
• Few fisheries-independent data
available for management and
conservation
– 122 random purse seine samples
distributed across the main bed of
the lough
– Species abundance per haul
– Individual length (± 1 mm)
• First quantitative estimates to
include eels since the ban on
trawling (1980s)
Lough Neagh: fish community
Abundance
Biomass
River lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) in Lough Neagh
• Evidence of freshwater
feeding
– Scarring of resident fishes,
e.g. pollan
• Relative impact of
parasitism on different
prey?
• Evidence for anadromous
v freshwater feeding?
Evidence for freshwater foraging
Inger et al 2010 J App Ecol 47: 121-129
Inger et al 2010 J App Ecol 47: 121-129
Isotopic variation in Lough Neagh
Freshwater
Isotopic variation in Lough Neagh &
Strangford Lough
Marine
Freshwater
Cormorants: energetic conduits between
aquatic habitats
Marine
Freshwater
Relative importance of freshwater v marine feeding
in breeding cormorants
• Bird Island breeding colony
• Subset forage on L. Neagh (70 km)
– Why?
• Freshwater provisioned chicks have
greater condition factors
R2=0.44, P=0.01
Brown et al, in prep.
Invasive species
Invasive Aquatic Species in Irish water bodies
• Funded through EPA STRIVE
• Collaboration with National Biodiversity
Data Centre, & Central Fisheries Board
• QUB leading on WP2: Invasive species
impacts on community structure and
function
– Lagarosiphon major in Lough Corrib
– Leuciscus cephalus in the River Inny
Lough Corrib and Lagarosiphon major
Kevin Gallagher (PhD student)
kgallagher23@qub.ac.uk
Paul McIlwaine (Mphil student)
pmcilwaine03@qub.ac.uk
Marked habitat shift…
Pre-invasion
Post-invasion
Growth rates differ in fish captured in
invaded and native habitats
Mean ± 95% CI back-calculated length at age
5 mm
Hemimysis anomala (another Ponto-Caspian invader)
Kevin Gallagher
(kgallagher23@qub.ac.uk )
Collaboration: Dan Minchin & CFB
The current distribution and status of Hemimysis in
Ireland
• Lough Ree: found at 4 sites (north,
south, east and west of the lough).
– considered widespread.
• Also present in
• Lough Key
• Lough Boderg (Dr Dan Minchin)
• no evidence of Hemimysis in Loughs
Allen, Scur, Garadice, upper / lower
Lough Erne or Lough Neagh.
• Future work
• More study sites
• Examine relative abundance at
invaded sites.
• Public awareness campaign
Hemimysis – examining feeding behaviour
•Small bodied invasive Hemimysis anomala, killed and consumed x7
more juvenile Gammarus pulex than the larger-bodied native Mysis
relicta, in one third of the time.
100
mean no. consumed
80
Hemimysis – 12 hours
60
40
20
Mysis – 40 hours
0
0
20
40
60
80
prey density
100
120
140
Invasive freshwater plants in Ireland:
Distribution, spread and physiological
responses to climate change
Ruth Kelly (PhD student)
rkelly35@qub.ac.uk
Evolutionary ecology of the three spined
stickleback in Ireland
• Important (and undervalued)
ecological role
• Key model for evolution of new
species
• Almost unstudied in Ireland
• Mark Ravinet (PhD student)
mravinet01@qub.ac.uk
Stickleback phylogeography
• Mixture of lineages present in Ireland – and perhaps some uniquely Irish?
Green = Irish populations
Stickleback phylogeography
• Mixture of lineages present in Ireland – and perhaps some uniquely Irish?
Barents Sea/North Eastern European
Green = Irish populations
Trans-Atlantic
Irish/Western European
Funding bodies
Fisheries Society of
the British Isles