Developing a sentinel monitoring network for Scotland's rivers and lochs

Chapman, D.; Carvalho, L.; Gunn, I.; May, L.; Bowes, M.; O'Hare, M.

Developing a sentinel monitoring network for Scotland's rivers and lochs

Chapman, D.; Carvalho, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9768-9902; Gunn, I. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1473-5097; May, L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3385-9973; Bowes, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0673-1934; O'Hare, M.. 2018 Developing a sentinel monitoring network for Scotland's rivers and lochs. Scottish Government and Scottish Environment Protection Agency, 157pp. (CEH Project no. C06298)

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Abstract/Summary

• The Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) surveillance monitoring networks for rivers and lochs were established over a decade ago to help assess the state of Scotland’s freshwater environment and detect environmental change. This long-term monitoring is integral in formulating evidence-based policy and evaluating whether land and water management aimed at improving environmental quality is effective. • SEPA and Scottish Government have commissioned this review of the surveillance networks to better understand their national representativeness, optimal size and sampling intensities. • The review also considered new and innovative monitoring technologies, and assessed where these may help SEPA to more cost-effectively assess long-term trends in the environment. • The specific aims of this report are: (1) to assess how well the SEPA river surveillance network represents Scotland’s environment; (2) to identify possible changes in the river surveillance network to improve its representativeness; (3) to estimate the ability of the existing river and loch surveillance networks to detect long-term environmental change, and investigate how this might be affected by changes in sampling regimes; (4) to analyse environmental changes detectable since the inception of the surveillance networks; and (5) to analyse the benefits of adopting new sampling methods.

Item Type:

Publication - Report

UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:

Water Resources (Science Area 2017-24)

Funders/Sponsors:

The Scottish Government

NORA Subject Terms:

Ecology and Environment

Date made live:

10 Sep 2020 14:02 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528399