ASSESSING THE CONSERVATION STATUS OF TURLOUGHS
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Site Map
Introduction
Introductory paragraph on homepage
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Project Objectives
Project Sites
Project Team
Project Progress
Reports and Publications
Project Partners
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Contact Us
Site Map
Legal
Links
Key terms and abbreviations
Introduction
Turloughs are depressions in karst terrain which are periodically flooded by groundwater.
They lack a surface outflow and have a substrate and/or ecological communities characteristic
of wetlands. The greatest global density of this habitat is found in the western third of Ireland
and this restricted distribution has lead to their designation as a priority habitat under Annex 1
of the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). Under the Water Framework Directive
(2000/60/EC), turloughs are designated as Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial Ecosystems in
addition to fens, bogs and wet heaths. Both of these Directives demand the assessment,
monitoring and reporting of turlough conservation status, where conservation status includes
the influences acting on turlough structures and functions. This requires an improved
understanding of turlough ecohydrological and management relationships, at both catchment
and within turlough level, and the development of a national monitoring strategy. This will
be facilitated by integrating information from this multidisciplinary project, which includes
four PhD projects and two Postdoctoral sub-projects, focussing on a range of interconnected
aspects of the turlough habitat:
Hydrology
Vegetation
Soils
Invertebrate communities
Algae and hydrochemistry
Catchment-scale and within-site management
Project Objectives
Develop a monitoring protocol for assessing the conservation status of turloughs based on an
improved understanding of turlough ecohydrology:
Extensive aspect: Investigate the relationships of catchment characteristics and
associated eutrophication risk with within-site hydrological regimes, trophic status
and biological communities across a range of turloughs.
Intensive aspect: Assess the implications of within-site spatial and temporal
variations for biological and hydrochemical assessments within a limited number of
turloughs.
Project Sites
304 turloughs are listed in the Geological Survey Ireland Karst Database. Hydrological and
ecological information, of varying forms and standards, is available for 90 of these sites.
Hydrology is the key factor driving ecological diversity in most wetlands and site selection
was driven by the requirement for turloughs representative of the full range of turlough
hydrological signatures, according to best available knowledge. 22 turloughs were selected
for study from the subset of 90 sites based on hydrological criteria and the requirement for a
broad but practical geographical distribution. 13 turloughs were selected based on the karstic
flow system hypothesis which suggests that turloughs associated with specific types of
groundwater flow have a characteristic range of ecologies (Tynan et al., 2006). 9 sites were
chosen based on the presence of moss species as indicators of hydrological regime (Coxon,
1986). Turloughs are generally state or privately owned commonage areas used by numerous
landowners. Every effort was made to contact landowners related to suitable access points.
Landowner consultation is vital for within-site management assessments and efforts are
ongoing to contact as many associated landowners as possible related to each site. (Include
maps of national distribution of turloughs and distribution of project sites)
Project Team
Project Coordinator
Steve Waldren: Role, Background, Telephone, Email
Postdoctoral Researcher
Sarah Kimberley: Role, Background, Telephone Email
Turlough Hydrological Dynamics
Paul Johnston, Laurence Gill, David Drew, Owen Naughton: Role, Background, Telephone,
Email
Turlough Vegetation Diversity
Steve Waldren, Nova Sharkey: Role, Background, Telephone, Email
Turlough Invertebrate Structure and Dynamics
Ken Irvine, Gwendolin Porst: Role, Background, Telephone, Email
Turlough Algal and Hydrochemical Dynamics
Catherine Coxon, Norman Allott, Helder Pereira: Role, Background, Telephone, Email
Project Progress
The following summarises progress achieved from April 2006 to December 2007:

Selection of 22 sites for extensive study in limited cooperation with local landowners.

Fieldwork completed relating to the extensive algal, invertebrate and hydrochemical
survey.

Preliminary vegetation community classification and generation of sample vegetation
maps.

Soils described and mean nutrient assessments completed for a subset of sites.

Flood recorders in place and topographical surveys of some turloughs completed.

Preliminary catchment delineation for two turloughs and testing of methods to assess
risk to eutrophication within these areas.

Further contact made with landowners associated with 8 turloughs to generate withinsite management information.

4 turloughs selected for intensive spatial and temporal study and start of associated
aquatic phase investigations.
Reports and Publications
Farmers Information Leaflet
Habitats Directive Conservation Assessment Report 2007
Project Partners
National Parks & Wildlife Service (Project Sponsor/Project Beneficiary)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of the Department of Environment,
Heritage and Local Government, is responsible for National and European site (Natura 2000)
designation for species and habitat protection. The NPWS have developed Special Areas of
Conservation management plans and give advice to landowners on land management
practices favourable to nature conservation within designated sites and in the general
countryside. The NPWS implement the Wildlife Act and Habitats Directive in Ireland and are
the competent legal authority for turlough conservation.
Environmental Protection Agency (Sub-project Sponsor)
The EPA are funding the PhD project Links between Vegetation Diversity and Hydrology
(EPA 2005-PHD-B-29) conducted by Nova Sharkey.
Project Steering Committee
The PSC was established in April 2006 and provides guidance and expert opinion on the
direction of the project. The PSC is comprised of the Project Team and a nominated party (s)
from each of the following- National Parks and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection
Agency, Geological Survey Ireland and Teagasc. (Terns of Reference for PSC to be
included).
Contact Us
If you require further information on this multidisciplinary turlough conservation
project you can get in contact with the Postdoctoral Reseacher:
Sarah Kimberley
Centre for the Environment,
Trinity College Dublin,
College Green,
Dublin 2.
You can also contact the research students by email:
Nova Sharkey (Turlough vegetation diversity)
Owen Naughton (Turlough hydrological dynamics)
Gwendolin Porst (Turlough invertebrate communities)
Helder Pereira (Turlough algal and hydrochemical dynamics)
Site Map
The Site Map provides an outline of the website structure and would be similar to the outline
presented above.
Legal
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Copyright
The material featured on this site is subject to Government of Ireland copyright according to
the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000. The material may be downloaded to file or
printer for personal use only. Where this material is being issued to others, the source
(including URL) and copyright status must be acknowledged. The permission to reproduce
Government copyright material does not extend to any material on this site which may be the
property of a third party. Authorisation to reproduce such material must be obtained from the
copyright holders concerned.
Copyright - Photographs
Photographs used on this website may not be used without the consent the photographer.
Initials will acknowledge each photographer associated with each image.
Disclaimer
The contents of these pages are provided as an information guide only. They are intended to
enhance public access to information about the Project and its work. While every effort is
made in preparing material for publication no responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of the
Project or its Project Partners for any errors, omissions or misleading statements on these
pages or any site to which these pages connect. Although every effort is made to ensure the
reliability of listed sites this cannot be taken as an endorsement of these sites by the Project.
Privacy
For general web browsing no personal information is revealed to us, although certain
statistical information is available to us via our internet service provider. This information
may be used to create summary statistics which allow the Project to assess the number of
visitors to the site, identify what pages are accessed most frequently and generally, help us to
make our site more user friendly.
No personal information on landowners linked to the turlough sites will be available on this
website or in any publications or reports developed by the Project.
Links (Web Links and Web Resources)
National Parks & Wildlife Service & www.environ.ie
www.epa.ie
www.burrenlife.com
Endnote bibliography of relevant Turlough literature
Turlough related documents available on the web.
Turlough Site Database Project: Eleanor Mayes (December 2007 start date)
Key terms and abbreviations
Key terms
Sites
Project Partner
Project Team
Key Abbreviations
EC
European Commission
Ha
Hectare
NPWS National Parks & Wildlife Service
PSC
Project Steering Committee
SAC
Special Area of Conservation