Funding Type: EPA STRIVE Programme 2007 - 2013
Funding Year: 2007
Project Duration: 36 months
Project Type: Doctoral Scholarship
Total Grant-aid: €95,000
Lead Partner: Trinity College Dublin
Project Summary:
The focus of this project will be the taxonomic investigation of the biodiversity of the understudied meiofauna within the habitats of Ireland’s estuarine and coastal ecosystems. The ecological requirements of the meiofauna will be established for priority special protected areas (SPA) in transitional waters along with a salinity-based typology. The application of the meiofauna as bioindicators of SPA habitat quality and degree of anthropogenic impact will also be investigated. Species interactions within and between trophic guilds will be studied, including ecosystem modelling of predator-prey relationships within the meiofauna.
For further information on the EPA STRIVE Programme see, www.epa.ie