The Challenges of Managing Water for Wetland Ecology, Flood Mitigation and Agriculture in the Upper Lunan Water, an Intensive Arable Catchment in Scotland

The “Water for All” project has aimed to develop a multi-disciplinary science case for adaptive management through a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme in the Lunan Water, a lowland catchment in Scotland. Management needs for high and low flows, standing water levels and flow routing to/from high nature value mesotrophic wetlands were appraised. A key part has been the development of a real time hydrological-hydraulic model of the upper Lunan Water as an aid to management and scenario analysis especially with respect to existing and potential hydraulic structures. This provides better working knowledge and forecast-based simulations of high or low flow situations for catchment management planners, farmers, riparian owners and other local stakeholders. Engagement with local users and residents has included surveying Willingness To Pay (WTP) for hydraulic management as a function of governance mechanisms, development of a catchment management group, and interviews and workshops with riparian and other land-users. The work has highlighted the joys and sorrows of seeking to develop a PES approach and lessons to be learnt in project management, promotion of multiple benefits, catchment-scale water governance and the vices and virtues of “benign neglect”

Water for all : towards an integrated approach to wetland conservation and flood risk reduction in a lowland catchment in Scotland

Authors thanks Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government (SEFARI) project number S100015-00 for funding this work.Strategies for sustainable water resources management require integration of hydrological, ecological and socio-economic concerns. The “Water for all” project has sought to develop a multi-disciplinary science case for innovative management of water levels and flows in a lowland catchment in Scotland. Water demands of arable agriculture, protection from flood risk and conservation needs of lowland mesotrophic wetlands needed to be considered. Water management strategy focused on the outlet zone of Balgavies lake in Eastern Scotland, where the Lunan Water discharges into a partially confined common channel (lade). Water releases to a mill, to the downstream river, and to floodplain wetlands (Chapel Mires) are partially controlled by an existing weir. Based on observations of management of this weir, we postulated that upgrading hydraulic management in this zone could reduce upstream flood risk, help protect mesotrophic wetlands and facilitate downstream water supply at low flows. We considered potential for: (a) installing a remotely operated tilting weir, for improved management of release and routing of flows from the common lade; (b) dredging of the common lade in combination or instead of the tilting weir. Rapid ecological assessment and mixing analysis of the Lunan Water with waters in Chapel Mires showed a gradient of trophic status across the wetlands linked to impact of river-borne nutrients. Stage-discharge relationships, derived from steady-state approximations of the in-channel hydraulics, showed that the proposed tilting weir had potential to divert seasonal nutrient rich water from the upstream Lake away from Chapel Mires. Significant impact of the proposed weir on upstream flood risk was not demonstrated, but carrying out dredging of the channel reduced the current observed probability of upstream flooding. The proposed weir could help to maintain these dredging benefits. Survey and interviews with catchment stakeholders and residents showed constructive interest in the scheme, with half of the respondents willing to pay to support its implementation. The survey also revealed concerns about the proposed project, especially its long-term governance. The lessons learned have wider relevance to development of an integrated approach to water ecosystem services provision, especially where benefits are uncertain and thinly spread across a range of users.PostprintPeer reviewe

A comparison between ultraviolet disinfection and copper alginate beads within a vortex bioreactor for the deactivation of bacteria in simulated waste streams with high levels of colour, humic acid and suspended solids.

We show in this study that the combination of a swirl flow reactor and an antimicrobial agent (in this case copper alginate beads) is a promising technique for the remediation of contaminated water in waste streams recalcitrant to UV-C treatment. This is demonstrated by comparing the viability of both common and UV-C resistant organisms in operating conditions where UV-C proves ineffective - notably high levels of solids and compounds which deflect UV-C. The swirl flow reactor is easy to construct from commonly available plumbing parts and may prove a versatile and powerful tool in waste water treatment in developing countries

Ischaemic conditioning and targeting reperfusion injury: a 30 year voyage of discovery

To commemorate the auspicious occasion of the 30th anniversary of IPC, leading pioneers in the field of cardioprotection gathered in Barcelona in May 2016 to review and discuss the history of IPC, its evolution to IPost and RIC, myocardial reperfusion injury as a therapeutic target, and future targets and strategies for cardioprotection. This article provides an overview of the major topics discussed at this special meeting and underscores the huge importance and impact, the discovery of IPC has made in the field of cardiovascular research

B lymphocytes trigger monocyte mobilization and impair heart function after acute myocardial infarction.

Acute myocardial infarction is a severe ischemic disease responsible for heart failure and sudden death. Here, we show that after acute myocardial infarction in mice, mature B lymphocytes selectively produce Ccl7 and induce Ly6C(hi) monocyte mobilization and recruitment to the heart, leading to enhanced tissue injury and deterioration of myocardial function. Genetic (Baff receptor deficiency) or antibody-mediated (CD20- or Baff-specific antibody) depletion of mature B lymphocytes impeded Ccl7 production and monocyte mobilization, limited myocardial injury and improved heart function. These effects were recapitulated in mice with B cell-selective Ccl7 deficiency. We also show that high circulating concentrations of CCL7 and BAFF in patients with acute myocardial infarction predict increased risk of death or recurrent myocardial infarction. This work identifies a crucial interaction between mature B lymphocytes and monocytes after acute myocardial ischemia and identifies new therapeutic targets for acute myocardial infarction.This work was supported by Inserm, British Heart Foundation (Z.M.), European Research Council (Z.M.), Fondation Coeur et Recherche (Z.M., T.S., N.D.), Fondation pour la Recherche Medicale (J.S.S.), European Union Seven Framework programme TOLERAGE (Z.M.), Fondation Leducq transatlantic network (C.J.B., D.T., A.T., J.S.S., Z.M.), National Institutes of Health grants AI56363 and AI057157, and a grant from The Lymphoma Research Foundation (T.F.T).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nm.3284

Comparison of microbial community assays for the assessment of stream biofilm ecology

We investigated a range of microbiological community assays performed on scrapes of biofilms formed on artificial diffusing substrates deployed in 8 streams in eastern Scotland, with a view to using them to characterize ecological response to stream water quality. The assays considered were: Multiplex Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism or M-TRFLP (a molecular method), Phospholipid Fatty Acid or PLFA analysis (a biochemical method) and MICRORESP™ (a physiological method) alongside TDI, diatom species, and chlorophyll a content. Four of the streams were classified as of excellent status (3–6 μg/L Soluble Reactive Phosphorus (SRP)) with respect to soluble P content under the EU Water Framework Directive and four were of borderline good/moderate or moderate status (43–577 μg/L SRP). At each site, 3 replicates of 3 solute diffusion treatments were deployed in a Latin square design. Solute diffusion treatments were: KCl (as a control solute), N and P (to investigate the effect of nutrient enrichment), or the herbicide isoproturon (as a “high impact” control, which aimed to affect biofilm growth in a way detectable by all assays). Biofilms were sampled after 4 weeks deployment in a low flow period of early summer 2006. The chlorophyll a content of biofilms after 4 weeks was 2.0 ± 0.29 mg/m2 (mean ± se). Dry matter content was 16.0 ± 13.1 g/m2. The M-TRFLP was successfully used for generating community profiles of cyanobacteria, algae and bacteria and was much faster than diatom identification. The PFLA and TDI were successful after an increase in the sample size, due to low counts. The MICRORESP™ assays were often below or near detection limit. We estimated the per-sample times for the successful assays as follows: M-TRFLP: 20 min, PLFA 40 min, TDI 90 min. Using MANOVA on the first 5 principal co-ordinates, all the assays except MICRORESP™ showed significant differences between sites, but none of the assays showed a significant effect of either initial stream trophic status (as classified by the EU Water Framework Directive using chemical standards for soluble P), or of the diffusing solute treatment. Multiple Procrustes analysis on the ordination results showed that the diatom and M-TRFLP data sets hold distinct, though as yet unexplored, information about the ecological factors affecting stream biofilms. The diatom data were subjected to principal components analysis, to identify which taxa were more strongly influenced by site variables, trophic status or treatment effects. These were Acnanthes lanceolata, A. minutissimma, Nitzchia spp., Coccineis spp. and Navicula spp. Further experimentation and data analysis on a larger number of sites, to identify specific M-TRFLP bands that could be used as indicators linked to specific taxa, are desirable. Results highlight the need for a multifactorial approach to understanding controls on stream ecology