The European or common ash (Fraxinus excelsior), which is native to the island of Ireland, has significant cultural, economic and environmental value. The species is currently being devastated by the invasive ascomycete pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus. Managing H. fraxineus inoculum levels can protect important ash trees and stands by reducing disease inoculum and the spread of the pathogen. The aim of this research was to compare treatments for reducing H. fraxineus inoculum by disrupting sexual sporulation (apothecia and ascospore production). Three treatments (sheep grazing, tree thinning and urea application) were investigated at ash plantations located in County Armagh and in County Kildare. Although none of the treatments affected H. fraxineus ascospore production, sheep grazing significantly reduced the formation of large and medium sized apothecia at the field site in County Kildare. Sheep grazing also influenced the forest floor microclimate at this field site. In addition, our laboratory studies support previous evidence that H. fraxineus requires light and humidity for apothecia production. Therefore, manipulating the microclimate of ash stands might help manage H. fraxineus sexual sporulation. Further investigations into grazing and thinning, coupled with approaches such as the use of potentially tolerant ash populations, could mitigate the impact of H. fraxineus on F. excelsior.
ABSTRACT: Pollinating insects are undergoing global declines in abundance, distribution and diversity. Conservation initiatives aimed at bees and other pollinators have become popular with individuals and community groups, and are often based on habitat creation and provision of floral resources. There is growing motivation for conservation programs to be evidenced based, and the aim of this study was to use field observations and choice experiments to determine whether different pollinators display preferences for different coloured flowers. In an Irish orchard, field observations indicated honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees most commonly visited purple flowers, whereas hoverflies mostly preferred white and yellow flowers. Pairwise choice tests using potted plants (Cornflowers, Pansies and Snapdragons) provided supporting evidence that bumble bees and honey bees exhibited preferences for blue and purple flowers, but the preference of hoverflies for lighter coloured flowers was not so clear in these pairwise tests. The results of this study suggest that planting initiatives for pollinator conservation would benefit from consideration of flower colour, and blends of flowers could be constructed so as to attract specific pollinator groups or to promote pollinator diversity in general.
In 1845 a hitherto unknown plant pathogen attacked the Irish potato crop, leading to one of the most significant famines in modern history. The first reported outbreaks of the pathogen were recorded in the United States in 1843. Two years later, in late summer of 1845, outbreaks were reported in the Flanders region of Belgium. By September that same year, the disease had spread to Ireland. Immediately, experiments were conducted to understand the cause of the disease: was it spontaneous generation, lightening, worn out potatoes, harsh weather or the wrath of God that caused the murrain? The presence of a minute 'fungus', which was eventually named Phytophthora infestans, was confirmed. Forensic DNA from historic outbreak samples found in mycological herbaria were used to identify and genotype the strain that caused the Irish famine. Historical agricultural reports provide evidence of shipping routes and the movement of potatoes from the Andes to the US and then to Europe. Modern forensic DNA studies have helped identify the strain that caused potato blight and track the pathogen's Andean origins and evolution since the famine in Ireland. Modern tools including agricultural fungicides, disease prediction systems and resistant varieties have helped growers manage this plant disease, which still aggressively attacks potatoes in Ireland 180 years after its introduction.
ABSTRACT: Commonly known as wood ants, the genus Formica contains 179 species worldwide, including four that have been recorded from Ireland: F . fusca , F . lemani , F . aquilonia and F . lugubris . Before the 1950s, Irish publications treated F . fusca and F . lemani as the same species and treated F . aquilonia and F . lugubris as F . rufa , complicating the identity of historical records and their geographical distribution. Since then, with the exception of F . lugubris , few Irish studies have focused on the distribution of ants. This paper reviews the Irish Formica species to provide an updated account of the genus here. A dataset was collated from specimens in the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), published literature sources and records from the Centre for Environmental Data and Recording and the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Older published Formica records are verified and corrected with reference to voucher specimens in the NMI collections, which have all been redetermined for the present study. A simple key to identify workers of Irish Formica species is presented, based on characters and measurements from Irish specimens. Distribution maps are produced and brief accounts of the ecology of each species are provided.
Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) pups are highly precocial neonates, precipitated at birth into a challenging amphibious environment. Although aquatically capable, the neonate must rapidly acquire an unfailing following response to its mother to ensure its survival in the immediate post-natal period. The mechanism whereby the newborn acquires this responsiveness has not been well understood. Here we describe behaviours and individual roles of mother and neonate of eight mother-pup pairs in north-east Ireland and one captive-bred pair. Mothers invariably initiated the bonding by engaging the pup in nose-to-nose contacts and repeated nosing of its dorsum. However, pups varied in their promptness in reciprocating their mother's nosing contacts and in following her. Where the wild-born pups were born onshore (n=6), their mothers did not lead them from their natal rock into the sea until they were fully engaging with her in nosing contacts and following her reliably. Mothers persisted with enhanced efforts to establish their connection with initially unresponsive pups, and hence no failure of bonding was observed. Our observations highlight the post-partum mother's behavioural flexibility which allows the newborn pup to adapt effectively to a variety of circumstances and ensures the pup acts alongside her in a well-coordinated unit.
Efficient fertiliser management is essential for sustainable agriculture, as imbalanced application reduces yields, raises costs and increases environmental risks. Tropical agriculture faces unique soil- crop interactions that demand region-specific solutions. However, existing studies often overlook tropical nutrient dynamics, lack robust preprocessing for noisy agricultural data, and provide limited interpretability in recommendations. To address these gaps, this study proposes an adaptive decision-driven agriculture framework that leverages soil nutrient analysis and spatial information with advanced decision-support techniques to deliver precise and interpretable fertiliser strategies. In preprocessing, an improved Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise algorithm is employed to detect and remove outliers by adapting density parameters to heterogeneous tropical soil data, ensuring cleaner and more consistent inputs. For soil classification, the NUTREE classifier enhances accuracy by capturing non-linear nutrient dependencies with adaptive feature weighting. Furthermore, the CSRC module with SHAP identifies key nutrient-crop relationships, translating complex outputs into human-interpretable insights. Finally, an optimised HSO-ANFIS model generates personalised recommendations, overcoming standard ANFIS limitations through faster convergence, dynamic rule optimisation and adaptability to soil-crop-region conditions. Experimental results demonstrate 97% precision and a 93.37% F1 score, with nitrogen use reduced by 33% in paddy, improving yields by 25.7% and lowering costs by 22-24%. The framework thus promotes sustainable tropical agriculture by optimising inputs, improving economic returns and reducing environmental impact.
This article serves as a data repository for recorded crosses made for spring and winter malting barley breeding in Ireland as a collaboration over 100 years between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (and its precursor organisation) and Guinness. It describes the genotypes and phenotypes of the surviving 37 winter barley breeding lines that are held in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine gene bank and provides a genotypic description of the spring barley breeding lines.This is the first compilation of all surviving records for the crosses made in both spring and winter barley breeding programmes. Breeding for a certain climate and soil conditions will produce excellent varieties, including, in some cases, varieties with a wide European spread such as 'Spratt-Archer'. The Irish malting barley breeding programme was very advanced for its time, incorporating the latest breeding techniques (pedigree breeding, mutation breeding, connectivity to European brewery convention trial network) and advanced quality testing in experimental micro-breweries. The breeding programme has pioneered participatory plant breeding involving the growers early in the selection process.
The presence of goosanders (Mergus merganser) was first recorded in Ireland in 1970, and they have been slowly increasing in numbers since. A small breeding population is now established in Wicklow Mountains National Park, County Wicklow, although the origin of the colonising individuals is currently unknown.This study amplified the mitochondrial COI gene from one goosander chick tissue sample and one scat sample from Ireland and four goosander scat samples from the River Deveron in Scotland. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the sequences generated from the Irish tissue and scat samples matched 100% to both the Scottish scat sequences and known Scandinavian sequences, indicating that the Irish goosander population likely spread from Britain and/or Scandinavia, perhaps due to increasingly favourable breeding. It is likely that avian colonising events will continue due to climate change. As such it is important that future conservation and biodiversity decisions are scientifically informed, in order to better understand changes in range and breeding habitats. Other than the tissue sample analysed, this study also validated non-invasive avian scat sampling as a valuable tool for species identification, without the need for invasive or destructive sampling.
Petrifying (tufa-precipitating) springs contain rare stenotopic bryophyte species in specialised plant communities of high nature conservation value. We surveyed petrifying springs from throughout Ireland, recording bryophyte species and collecting and analysing water samples. We demonstrate that holding down levels of eutrophication is a critical issue for the survival of some of our rarest species and habitats (including those that are legally protected). With increased nitrate and/or phosphate levels, spring waters contain fewer species and lack rare species. At the highest nutrient levels, spring specialists are replaced by generalists. The rarest and most ecologically significant species, e.g. Catoscopium nigritum, Orthothecium rufescens, Seligeria oelandica and Tomentypnum nitens, were confined to waters with <2.0mg l(-1) NO3- and <15.0 mu g l(-1) PO4-3. Characteristic petrifying spring species, including Palustriella commutata, P. falcata, Philonotis calcarea and Scorpidium cossonii, were typically found in waters with <8.0mg l(-1) NO3- and <20.0 mu g l(-1 )PO(4-)(3). Brachythecium rivulare, Cratoneuron filicinum and Rhynchostegium riparioides, in contrast, often indicated nutrient-enriched waters. Water quality thresholds for nutrient levels in ground and surface waters in Ireland greatly exceed those required to maintain vulnerable, ecologically sensitive plant communities. We identify critical thresholds to be 2.0mg l(-1) NO3- and 15.0 mu g l(-1) P-4-.(3)
Extreme weather events (EWEs), including floods, droughts, heatwaves and storms, are increasingly recognised as major drivers of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation. In this systematic review, we synthesise 251 studies documenting the impacts of extreme weather events on freshwater, terrestrial and marine ecosystems, with the goal of informing effective conservation and management strategies for areas of special conservation or protection focus in Ireland. Twenty-two of the reviewed studies included Irish ecosystems. In freshwater systems, flooding (34 studies) was the most studied EWE, often linked to declines in species richness, abundance and ecosystem function. In terrestrial ecosystems, studies predominantly addressed droughts (60 studies) and extreme temperatures (48 studies), with impacts including increase in mortality, decline in growth and shift in species composition. Marine and coastal studies focused largely on storm events (33 studies), highlighting physical damages linked to wave actions, behavioural changes in macrofauna, changes in species composition and distribution, and loss in habitat cover. Results indicate that most EWEs lead to negative ecological responses, although responses are context specific. While positive responses to EWEs are rare, species with adaptive traits displayed some resilience, especially in ecosystems with high biodiversity or refuge areas.These findings underscore the need for conservation strategies that incorporate EWE projections, particularly for protected habitats and species.
A newly discovered naturalised specimen of Celastrus orbiculatus in Newry, Northern Ireland, was identified using DNA barcoding of nuclear ribosomal ITS and plastid trnL-F region sequences, phylogenetic tree reconstruction of closely related species and morphological trait comparisons. It represents the first report of this potentially invasive alien species on the island of Ireland. Historical archival records and dendrochronological examination were utilised to estimate when and how this exotic liana was introduced and to determine the age of the current specimens. The oldest aboveground living stem was estimated to be 24 years old from ring counts and it is likely that the specimen is a nursery escape given its proximity to the abandoned Daisy Hill Nursery. We provide initial evidence on habitat interactions of the Newry C. orbiculatus specimens and found that it exerts dominance over the community during the reproductive period from May to November (total coverage = 50-60%). Our findings suggest that the climate in Ireland and Northern Ireland (K & ouml;ppen's Cfb zone) is favourable for the growth and reproduction of C. orbiculatus. In addition, the edaphic conditions in Daisy Hill Wood (pH = 5.6 +/- 0.1; average soil organic matter = 14.3 %) matched the preferences of this introduced neophyte. We therefore anticipate that, without human control, the Newry C. orbiculatus specimens will persist and potentially expand in distribution.
The relationship between monthly variation and serum steroid concentrations in P & egrave;re David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) was investigated. In total, 48 male and 48 female deer were captured between March 2016 and February 2017 in Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve, eastern China.The serum concentrations of several steroids (including follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, prolactin, oestradiol, progesterone and testosterone) were measured using radioimmunoassay. We identified significant differences with Mann-Whitney U tests between males and females with respect to serum concentrations of progesterone, testosterone and oestradiol. Correlation analysis indicated that male and female serum oestradiol concentrations in different months were significantly positively correlated, but serum concentrations of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinising hormone, progesterone, prolactin and testosterone were not significantly correlated between males and females, but did show a negative pattern. We found that serum steroid concentrations differed between males and females, which reflects the physiological differences between females and males in P & egrave;re David's deer. Our results can provide important information for population breeding and conservation in animal husbandry.
ABSTRACT: Riparian shade within the small stream network (SSN) plays a key role in regulating light and water temperature, which mitigates catchment stressors such as nutrient enrichment. Small streams, with their narrow channels and high surface area-to-volume ratio, can be effectively shaded by bankside vegetation, influencing instream processes. Achieving adequate shading using appropriate bankside species may therefore present as an advantageous method to mitigate negative impacts of agriculture land use—the major pressure within SSN—on instream ecology, while providing other co-benefits for habitat and biodiversity. In contrast to protocols focused on managing nutrient source and transfer, as described through the nutrient transfer continuum, offer strategies to mitigate the ‘impact’ of overland transport and entrained nutrients, by imposing light limitation. This mitigation application of shading is less developed and not widely applied compared to other riparian strategies. The aim of this review is to improve understanding of the role of riparian shade on stream processes and ecological function; examine factors including vegetation type, width, height and density; identify knowledge gaps, and propose a conceptual framework for effective catchment management.
ABSTRACT: Long-term results for Lough Neagh, 1969–2022, and Lower Lough Erne, 1991–2018, were used to describe the changes in surface water temperature. The annual mean in Lough Neagh increased by 0.429°C decade−1 and the monthly mean in all months, except June, at an average of 0.368°C decade−1. The annual mean at a 60m water depth site (LE1) in Lower Lough Erne increased by 0.372°C decade−1, but only in June at 1.072°C decade−1, although with indications for January and October. At a 10m site (LE4), the annual mean increased at over twice that rate, 0.848°C decade−1, in January, September, October and December, at an average monthly rate of 1.358°C decade−1. Based on the evidence from Lough Neagh, Lower Lough Erne and Lough Feeagh, supported by the literature, it is likely that the annual mean temperature of many Irish lakes has increased by 0.18 to 0.43°C decade−1 over the last three to five decades. In addition, differences in the seasonal pattern of warming are possible. In Lough Neagh, the duration of lower temperatures needed for the breeding of Mysis salemaai decreased and the duration of higher temperatures that cause mortality increased over the 1969–2022 period, causing an increasing stress on the population.
ABSTRACT: Global arthropod populations are changing due to the combined impacts of climate change, land-use transformation, globalisation and trade. These changes can potentially result in the decline and extinction of some native and/or endemic arthropod species, while other species that potentially pose threats to human and animal populations may increase. Such dynamics lead to weakened ecosystem resilience, which can facilitate the establishment and spread of species with vector capacities, such as mosquitoes. While many of the mosquito species present in Ireland possess vector capacities, populations have not been extensively surveyed since 1991. A follow-up investigation into Irish mosquito species presence was performed in 2024. At that time of the 1991 study, species identification relied on morphological examination, a method that even then was recognised as inadequate for differentiating certain species within complexes; the 2024 follow-up study employed both morphological and genetics methods for species identification. In this study we conduct the first investigation of Irish mosquito populations using DNA barcoding of two genetic regions to confirm species presence. Our results confirmed the presence of species recently and not previously recorded from Ireland, including Culex torrentium and Culex pipiens s.s. ( sensu stricto ). We demonstrate that barcoding with Cytochrome C Oxidase Subunit 1-based primers is suitable for most species-level identifications. However, additional primer sets targeting the Internal Transcribed Spacer regions 1 and 2 were necessary to differentiate species within the Culex pipiens complex, although we found that researchers should be cautious relying on genetic reference databases such as GenBank for this purpose. Nevertheless, the multi-locus approach employed in this study can enhance national surveillance efforts, especially in monitoring mosquitoes that may transmit vector-borne diseases, and in recognising increased species diversity from a biodiversity perspective.
Agri-environment schemes, such as those in the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, provide farmers financial incentives for protecting biodiversity. Whilst farmland biodiversity can be measured through observation of bioindicator organisms such as birds and butterflies, carrying out such measurements typically requires expensive field monitoring. One possible alternative is to use remotely sensed data to supplement or replace fieldwork. This study investigates this possibility using remote sensed data and two citizen science databases to examine birds and butterflies, in order to determine if remotely observable habitat features can serve as accurate proxies of farmland biota. We found relationships between bird abundance and richness and land covers such as grassland and hedgerows. However, relationships that may be indicative of the efficacy of agri-environment schemes had relatively little explanatory power. In the case of butterflies, relationships with mapped variables had even less explanatory power, possibly a result of the resolution of the butterfly data. We conclude that land cover maps are a valuable resource for ecological analyses of organisms such as birds, but not to the level necessary for monitoring agri-environment schemes. In the case of less mobile organisms such as butterflies, more precise spatial data is required before solid conclusions can be drawn.
Haul-out sites enable seals to carry out essential functions such as resting, pupping and moulting. Knowledge of the location and use of these sites is important for conservation management to ensure they remain available and undisturbed during key times of the year. This survey recorded the use of haul-out sites close to Dublin Port during a time of increased construction activity to assess whether infrastructural development impacted on seals during pupping and moulting seasons. A total of 10 seal haul-out sites in Dublin Bay and adjacent coastal waters were surveyed on 16 days between 30 June 2023 and 18 January 2024. Most sites were surveyed with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Overall, grey seals were more abundant than harbour seals, with maximum counts of 326 in October and 300 in July and a minimum of 167 in November. Harbour seal numbers ranged from 117 to 5, with a peak in July. Most grey seals were recorded on Dalkey Island, Lambay Island and St Patrick's Island and on Ireland's Eye, while most harbour seals were observed at Rush Head and on Lambay Island and North Bull Island, with small numbers recorded at Sandycove. The same haul-out sites were used consistently throughout the survey period and are consistent with previous studies suggesting no changes in the use of haul-out sites. The count totals presented here are consistent with the results of the most recent national monitoring programme for seals in this area. A total of 88 grey seal pups were recorded in October on Lambay Island and St Patrick's Island and on Ireland's Eye and 33 harbour seal pups in July. In January concentrations of grey seals were recorded on Lambay Island (88) and St Patrick's Island (85) off Skerries during the moult period. The efficient use of UAVs for surveys of haul-out sites, with minimal disturbance to seals, is demonstrated and recommended as a cost-effective tool for regular monitoring seals at haul out sites in the future.
ABSTRACT: Sea turtle species have life cycles that have common features such as oviparity, nesting on sandy beaches, growing as juveniles in surface waters and moving to foraging grounds before migrating— often over long distances—to natal beaches to breed. They are therefore exposed to aquatic and terrestrial influences, both abiotic (e.g. temperature, weather) and biotic (e.g. food availability, predation). Humans have exploited sea turtles for millennia and pressure on their populations has increased dramatically during the ongoing Anthropocene as human influences have increased both in power and global reach. Fishing bycatches generated by powerful unselective gears have largely replaced direct fishing as an existential threat, but meat and egg poaching persist, while burgeoning global wildlife crime threatens sea turtles, especially hawksbills. Habitat loss caused by coastal development and exponential increases in beach-based tourism have reduced nesting success. Sustained losses of coral reef and seagrass habitats have removed foraging grounds for adult turtles and both habitat types are currently projected to disappear before 2100. Environmental degradation has taken several forms. Chemical pollution through the accumulation of organics and heavy metals have affected reproduction and facilitated the transmission of fibropapillomatosis. An emerging threat due to eutrophication also needs to be considered. Marine plastic pollution is already highly damaging to sea turtles; plastic fishing gears ‘ghost-fish’ indefinitely, capturing and killing all life-history stages except eggs, while ingestion of macro and microplastics blocks/damages guts. Rising global temperature has been identified as a potential existential threat for all species because of temperature-dependent sex determination and substantial sea level rise. However, climate change is also projected to cause an order of magnitude increase in the frequency of heat waves and extreme sea level highs, both of which can kill turtle embryos. This Praeger Review concludes with a description of sea turtle occurrences around the British Isles and the anthropogenic influences upon them.
The temperate climate of Ireland favours a long grass growing season, which has supported the development of successful pasture-based farming. Animals are grazed outdoors for most of the year and stored fodder is used to feed animals in winter while they are housed indoors. This agricultural system is efficient from an agronomic perspective. However, the high dependence on grass fodder means that prolonged or widespread deficits in growth have led to the occurrence of so-called fodder crises, when available stocks ran too low with resulting impacts on yields, revenues and animal welfare. Fodder crises may vary in spatial and temporal extent and occur due to a multitude of environmental and management factors, some of which may interact with each other. This study reviews current fodder practices in temperate pasture systems such as Ireland's, then details the various environmental controls on grass growth including moisture availability, temperature and daily solar radiation. Stressors on grass growth from extreme, or limiting, values of these environmental controls such as droughts and heat stress are discussed in the context of the temperate climate. The influence of non-environmental drivers such as management factors are also discussed. Changes in the patterns of drivers of grass growth deficits and fodder crises under future climate scenarios are considered, and some potential mitigation measures are proposed.
Groundwater dynamics were investigated in Lough Arrow in the north-west of Ireland. The lake is designated under the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) for its representative Annex I habitat from which charophytes are the main feature of interest. Groundwater interactions are considered a significant component of the lough's hydrology with its Annex I archetype deemed vulnerable to the pressures of nutrient pollution. This study utilised thermal imagery and geochemical tracers to detect and quantify groundwater inputs. Landsat 7 Thermal Infrared Imagery from two dates in both summer and winter was processed to investigate the potential occurrence of localised seepage points of groundwater captured as anomalous spatial plumes. In situ surveys of radon were undertaken in summer to confirm the presence of groundwater in the lake. Results were subsequently modelled to estimate the total groundwater discharge into the lake during the survey period. Additionally, a conceptual site model was created to characterise potential pressures to the lake from groundwater interactions within the catchment. Thermal imaging failed to conclusively identify thermal plumes consistent with localised groundwater inputs in Lough Arrow. However, the radon inventory applied to the mass balance estimated the lake was subject to 6,722m3 of groundwater influx per day at the time of the survey. The conceptual site model determined the lake was subject to potential pollution pressures from groundwater due to the catchment's physical attributes and land use activities. This is primarily due to the presence of a karst aquifer in the majority of the catchment coupled with significant agricultural and forestry practices. The vulnerability of the aquifer and the influx of groundwater to the lake highlights the potential threat groundwater contamination may pose to the favourable conservation condition of Lough Arrow's Annex I habitat.
