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To download exotic species overheads as pdf file click here.

Junior Sophister Course:

ZO3022  Freshwater Biology

(3 ECTS)

Hilary term 2006: Lectures on  Mondays 11 -12 and Wednesdays 10 -11.

Welcome to the course support site for ZO3022 Freshwater Biology.

Click on the links below for support with this course:

Brief outline of course

Assessment

Water Technology Courses

Course Text

Further Information

• Course text updates

• Gateway literature

• Assessments and practicals

• Picture gallery

• Links

• Student projects

Brief outline of course

This is an introductory course in freshwater ecosystems. The main topics covered by this course are:
•Basic concepts of hydrobiology: Hydrological cycle; freshwater resources and habitats; the catchment as the basis of study.
•Factors that determine the distribution of animals and plants: Natural dispersion; flow and substrate; dissolved solids; dissolved oxygen and temperature; suspended solids; river and lake  zonation; comparison of riverine and lake systems.
•Aquatic ecosystems: Community structure; functional feeding groups; P:R, plants,  allochtonous and autocotonus inputs; habitat zonation; lake ecology.
•Water pollution: Toxic substances; suspended solids (inert and oxidizable, deoxygenation, non-toxic salts (inc .salinization,  eutrophication and algal toxins); addition of heated water, effect on buffering system; diffuse pollution; afforestation and water quality.
•Micro-organisms and pollution control: Nutritional classification; Microbial oxygen demand (inc. self-purification, oxygen balance, re-aeration, the oxygen-sag curve; the BOD test.
•Water basin management: Basic management programmes; Water Framework Directive; water quality and regulation.
•Water quality assessment: This will be largely covered in the Freshwater Field Course and includes Physico-chemical and biological surveillance; Sampling surface waters (inc. designing sampling programmes, mixing, safety in the field, hydrological measurements; chemical and biological sampling); Biological data (inc. pollution and diversity indices; limitations of indices; multivariate analysis); Chemical data  (inc. chemical indices; mass balance and modelling) ;RIVPAC and  the UK GQA scheme.

Assessment

There are two aspects to the assessment of this course; a small practical exercise worth 30% of the marks and a research assessment worth the remaining 70%.
(i) Do hydrobiology exercises I and II, which are downloadable from the web site for the course.  This must be handed in to the Centre’s Office by 4.00 pm  on Friday 17th February, 2006.

(ii) Working in groups of two, research into the effects of climate change on Ireland's freshwater surface waters and their ecology. Together, use this information to write a 600 word article for the Science Section of the Irish Times.

Completed assessments must be handed into the Centre’s Office by 4.00 pm on Wednesday 8th March, 2006.

Water Technology Courses

This course is a pre-requisite to the JS Freshwater Field Course (ZO3023) (3 ECTS) held at the end of the Trinity term and also acts as an introduction to the Senior Sophister course Water Technology (ES4020) (6 ECTS) held each Michaelmas Term.  These three courses have now been harmonized within the new School to avoid any repetition and to provide a complete overview for those interested in a career in the water or environmental protection industries.

Course Text

There is a course text specifically for these courses on which the lectures and practical work are largely based.  Gray, N.F. (2005) Water Technology: an introduction for environmental scientists and engineers. (2nd edition) Elsevier, Oxford. See link below.

For further details about this course then contact Prof. Nick Gray who is located in the Centre for the Environment (email: nfgray@tcd.ie; Tel: 01-6081639).

Further Information

For regulatory bodies see: Ireland: Central Fisheries Board, National Parks and Wildlife;UK: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Biological Records Centre (CEH), English Nature, Environment Agency, Freshwater Biological Association, eFishBusiness.

Biodiversity in freshwaters see: FreshwaterLife (database on freshwater plants and animals),Life in UK Rivers, FishBase (global information system on fishes).

Last updated: January 11, 2006