Darren Garland

Current PhD Student

Lough Arrow - Conservation Status Assessment and Collaborative Actions for the Natura Network

My PhD is primarily focused on Lough Arrow, a designated SAC under the Habitats Directive due to the presence of a representative example of the Annex I habitat “Hard oligo-mesotrophic waters with benthic vegetation of Chara spp.”.

The current conservation condition of this Annex I habitat is impaired and deemed by the most recent conservation condition assessment to have an “Unfavourable Poor” classification. This classification is due to a number of pressures impacting the habitat at a national scale, most notably, the impacts from pollution and invasive species which are compromising both habitat quality and availability.

During my PhD, novel in situ conservation measures will be undertaken to potentially improve the conservation condition of the habitat and temporal changes in relation to habitat quality will be monitored