Pollinator responses to farmland habitat features: one-size does not fit all

• Globally, pollinating insects face significant pressure, largely due to intensively managed agricultural systems. There has been considerable focus on the provision of resources for pollinators in agricultural landscapes, but without understanding how existing farmland habitats affect pollinators there is a risk these conservation actions could fail. • The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between the quantity, diversity, and quality of on-farm habitats with pollinator communities. To meet this aim, pollinator, floral and habitat features were assessed at twenty-nine sites, encompassing both livestock and crop systems, at a range of farming intensities, in two regions of Ireland. • Results showed that the three main taxonomic pollinator groups (hoverflies, social bees, and solitary bees) were inconsistent in their responses to habitat and environmental variables. Hoverflies were negatively associated with farms with increasing amounts of linear feature and fewer drainage ditches, whereas bumblebees were positively associated with crop farms and the number of grassy margins, drainage ditches and hedgerows at a site. Solitary bees were negatively associated with crop farms and positively associated with high floral species richness. At a species level, community analysis showed that within taxonomic groups, individual species responded differently to environmental variables. • This study demonstrates that different farm types and habitat features impact pollinator groups differently. One-size does not fit all, thus on-farm conservation actions should be designed with knowledge of taxon-specific responses to maximise benefits. The quantity and diversity of essential habitats are important along with the quality of those features in terms of their capacity to provide sufficient resources for pollinators

Assessing stone walls habitat quality – Which factors affect bryophytes and macrolichens on farmland stone walls in Ireland?

peer-reviewedStone walls are ubiquitous field boundaries used to restrict livestock movement or to separate property. Bryophytes and lichens are often the dominant vegetation in dry stone walls and are strongly affected by local microhabitat characteristics. Bryophytes and lichens related metrics can be used to define habitat quality of stone walls. The current study assessed how richness and cover of bryophytes and macrolichens in dry stone walls related to each other and how different environmental variables and farm management descriptors determined richness and cover of both groups in dry stone walls. Bryophytes and macrolichens were sampled in stone walls on sixteen farms across a management intensity gradient in Ireland. Bryophyte cover correlated positively and significantly with bryophyte richness and macrolichen cover and richness, and can thus be used to assess stone walls quality. Farm management intensity emerged as the variable most strongly related with species richness of bryophytes and cover of both groups. Altitude also emerged as a strong predictor of both groups’ richness and cover. This study provides a novel perspective on stone wall habitat quality and results indicate that by promoting extensive farming it is possible to increase stone walls quality

Monitoring of emerging contaminants of concern in the aquatic environment: a review of studies showing the application of effect-based measures

Water scarcity is increasingly a global cause of concern mainly due to widespread changes in climate conditions and increased consumptive water use driven by the exponential increase in population growth. In addition, increased pollution of fresh water sources due to rising production and consumption of pharmaceuticals and organic chemicals will further exacerbate this concern. Although surface water contamination by individual chemicals is often at very low concentration, pharmaceuticals for instance are designed to be efficacious at low concentrations, creating genuine concern for their presence in freshwater sources. Furthermore, the additive impact of multiple compounds may result in toxic or other biological effects that otherwise will not be induced by individual chemicals. Globally, different legislative frameworks have led to pre-emptive efforts which aim to ensure good water ecological status. Reports detailing the use and types of effect-based measures covering specific bioassay batteries that can identify specific mode of actions of chemical pollutants in the aquatic ecosystem to evaluate the real threat of pollutants to aquatic lives and ultimately human lives have recently emerged from monitoring networks such as the NORMAN network. In this review, we critically evaluate some studies within the last decade that have implemented effect-based monitoring of pharmaceuticals and organic chemicals in aquatic fauna, evaluating the occurrence of different chemical pollutants and the impact of these pollutants on aquatic fauna with special focus on pollutants that are contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in urban wastewater. A critical discussion on studies that have used effect-based measures to assess biological impact of pharmaceutical/organic compound in the aquatic ecosystem and the endpoints measurements employed is presented. The application of effect-based monitoring of chemicals other than assessment of water quality status is also discussed

Towards the use of DGT technique in a regulatory context for monitoring metals in marine water bodies : Results of an International Intercomparison Exercise

In order to move forward in the acceptance of a novel contaminant monitoring technique for the status assessment of marine water bodies, sensu the Water Framework Directive (WFD), an Inter-Laboratories Comparison (ILC) exercise was organized by Ifremer in the framework of the MONITOOL project - New tools for monitoring the chemical status in transitional and coastal waters under the EU WFD. This ILC focused on the use of DGT technique for the measurement of WFD priority metals (Cd, Ni and Pb). The objectives of this ILC were to test the performance of laboratories when analysing DGTs and to identify the critical handling (resin gel retrieval and elution) and analytical steps when working with DGT samplers, to establish recommendations to prevent misleading results

Passive sampling techniques for monitoring metals in transitional and coastal waters in the Atlantic region

In highly dynamic systems, such as transitional and coastal waters, establishing their chemical status is challenging. MONITOOL is an exciting European project consisting of 16 Partners covering the Atlantic region from the Canary Islands to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, which aims to address this complex analytical challenge, responding to European Directive demands for the assessment of the chemical status of transitional and coastal waters. Diffusive Gradient in Thin Films (DGT), and passive samplers (PS), in general, are already widely used in investigative monitoring and there is an increasing interest in their use for the environmental assessment of water bodies, within European policies requirements. The main barrier hindering the regulatory acceptance of PS for compliance checking is the lack of appropriate Environmental Quality Standards (EQS). EQSs for metals are defined in the dissolved fraction, preventing the use of DGT-labile concentrations for the establishment of the chemical status of water bodies. The first sampling campaigns were performed during winter 2017/2018 in 4 selected sites (transitional and coastal sites) in each consortium region (8 regions). All partners followed the same protocol for sampling and analysis to minimize the operational variability. Priority metals (Cd, Ni, Pb) and other specific metals (Al, Ag, Cu, Cr, Co, Fe, Mn, Zn) were analysed in waters and in the DGT resins. Statistical analysis is being applied to study relationships between metal concentrations in DGT and in grab water samples. Suitable EQS for DGTs will be calculated on basis the statistical relations obtained previously. This will permit a better implementation of the Water Framework Directive in variable systems like transitional and coastal waters. The work presented here shows initial DGT results from the Irish sampling sites for selected target metals

Metal concentrations in transitional and coastal waters measured by passive (Diffusive Gradients in Thin-films) and spot sampling: MONITOOL Project Dataset

The MONITOOL project (2017-2023) was carried out to describe the relationships between total dissolved and labile metal concentrations measured in spot water samples and in concurrently deployed Diffusive Gradients in Thin -films (DGTs) passive samplers, respectively. The ultimate aim was to adapt existing marine metal Environmental Quality Standards (EQS marine water ) for DGTs, enabling their use in the context of the European Directives (the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)). Time -integrated metal concentrations provided by DGTs, representing several days, are an advantage compared to conventional spot sampling, especially in highly dynamic systems, such as transitional waters. Hence, the MONITOOL project aimed to provide a robust database of dissolved and labile metal concentrations in transitional and coastal waters, based upon co -deployments of DGTs and collection of spot water samples at several sampling sites (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Scotland and Spain), followed subsequently by DGT and water metal analysis. Samplings were carried out in 2018 and 2022, following agreed protocols developed in the framework of the project. The MONITOOL dataset includes metal concentrations from DGTs, measured with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS: Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) and in concurrently collected spot water samples by ICP-MS (Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) and Anodic/Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV/CSV: Cd, Pb, Ni). Moreover, data on seawater physical -chemical parameters (salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, total suspended solids, dissolved organic carbon, and total organic carbon) is provided. This database presents the results obtained using, concurrently, different forms of sampling and analytical techniques, enabling the comparison of the results obtained by these strategies and allowing the adaptation of EQS in marine water (EQS marine water) to DGTs (EQS DGT), in the context of the WFD. Moreover, due to the large number of sampling sites, it could also be used for other types of research, such as those dealing with metal speciation or the determination of baseline levels. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/