Impact of watercress cultivation on river water quality: progress report for the period, January - December 1987

The objective of this short project progress report is to investigate the possible water quality implications of modern watercress growing practices. Chalk receiving watercourses are usually of high supply, amenity, game fishing and fish farming value. Any headwater pollution load, therefore, needs characterising and quantifying. Two sites of watercress farming were studied in 1986-87 and nutrient levels examined. Different approaches of watercress farmers in Dorset and Hampshire are summarised

The ecology of chalk-stream invertebrates studied in a recirculating stream

To study and qualify the factors influencing interactions between various trophic levels in natural hard-water streams, a recirculating artificial stream channel was constructed. This structure has enabled patterns of population change of stream fauna to be observed under partially controlled physical and chemical conditions. Initial colonization of the substratum by invertebrates and subsequent succession was studied along with depth distribution and growth and production studies of invertebrates