• Policy support
• Topics
  • The Scottish Land Use Strategy
  • The Pack Inquiry: Reforming Agricultural Support
• Consultation Responses
• Policy Briefs
• Research Themes
  • Catchment Management
  • Changing Landscapes
  • Climate change
  • Society and Countryside
  • Soil Quality
  • Understanding biodiversity
• Research Partners
  • "Mind the Gap" project
• Knowledge Scotland
  • Policy Briefs
  • Video
  • Knowledge Scotland Website

This research is designed to contribute to the development of an effective and workable framework for the assessment of ecological status of water bodies and impacts of land use change.

This will support implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), and associated legislation.

The WFD specifically targets improvements in ecological status as its central theme and our research will focus on identifying the processes which link the quality of the water environment (both chemical and in relation to physical habitat) to the ecology that it can sustain.

A further requirement is the identification of targets for recovery, indicative of ecological status in the absence of man-made pressures. These outcomes are linked with our work on Management to Enhance Water Quality, where mitigation measures are investigated.

The research in these modules will build on our existing expertise and data with an increasing emphasis on ecological status. In order to provide sound evidence-based science that supports policy, we consider that these modules need to be carried out within a consistent and long term network of sampling and data collection (such as the Environmental Change Network).

Through this research we will generate a better understanding of the links between land use change, diffuse pollutant mobilisation and transport and ecosystem functioning at the catchment scale. This will be achieved through the analysis and modelling of new data which together with existing data will provide a strong scientific underpinning to the development of policies required for the implementation of the Water Framework Directive as defined by the outputs requested by the Svottish Government.

More on water policy relevant research

• River Basin Management