Ensuring freshwaters for the future

Managing energy transfers to drive sustainable freshwaters.

Healthy upland rivers and streams provide a major source of clean drinking water and sustain all wildlife downstream, supporting key human activities including fisheries, agriculture and recreation. Despite this, freshwater ecosystems are amongst the most threatened in the world.

Our researchers found that transfers of energy by river ecosystems connect landscapes, river biodiversity and ecosystem services such as the provision of clean water or fish. Their findings led to policy changes that protect freshwater ecosystems in Wales and across the world.

This research was critical in developing a sustainable freshwater management programme at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Africa, as well as prompting an overhaul of both the policy and practice of freshwater ecosystem management in Wales.

Pioneering energy transfer through river systems

Professor Durance's team examined the link between biodiversity and ecosystem services through a fundamentally novel concept rooted in thermodynamics. Energy enters the river ecosystems through heat from the sun and carbon, through sources such as leaves. The research demonstrated that catchment management controls the amount of energy that enters the river ecosystems. The research evidences that the energy is transferred through the food chain from microbes to fish or birds. This concept provided first principles on which to guide landscape decisions.

The link between catchment use, freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem services

Through the DURESS project, the team developed the first tools and evidence directly linking biodiversity conservation efforts focused on the resilience of freshwater ecosystems to the sustainability of ecosystem services for future generations.

Visualising the impact of upland landscape on future ecosystem services

Uplands provide the majority of the UK’s drinking water. Ensuring the health of these water sources will be vital for human health. By engaging with 15 stakeholders, including Natural Resources Wales and Welsh Water, the researchers were able to shape management decisions that protect the provision of clean drinking water and other ecosystem services. The research has ensured the analyse of future drivers of change in UK uplands up to 2050.