Canal Ecology - resources

This page is a subpage within Canal Ecology. It is simply a list of canal ecological resources that may be of help to anyone seeking more information on canal ecological issues.

The complilation has been created following a number of enquiries from consultants, naturalists and students struggling to find information in this area. The official sites (British Waterways etc) are surprisingly useless in this regard, mostly just promoting wildlife information used in media promotions (much of which is exaggerated or irrelevant green-wash).

This listing is provisional/experimental and is a work in progress - begun in May 2012 with more being added during summer 2012. It cannot ever be complete - and it is not intended to be - but it should give some useful pointers. It is mostly limited to online resources with a few journal papers and oether reports too. Those inaccessable online may be obtained through academic libraries or from the report commissioners. We have access to most (but not all) at Jonathan Briggs Associates so may be able to help in case of difficulty. Suggestions for additional resources are welcome. Email enquiries@mistletoe.org.uk.

No copyright infringements are intended and if you own the rights to any items and want them removed, or the link re-directed to another site, do let us know. Last updated July 1st 2012.

To return to the canal ecology home page click here

Canal Ecology Resources index:

This page is set out with these general headings:

● General canal wildlife studies and accounts

● Technical Guidance and Ecological Classification

● Canal species studies and accounts

● Specific canal studies, accounts and management reports

● Liverpool/Stirling University Studies (studies based on various PhD and other research projects on canals across the UK and Ireland)




General canal wildlife studies and accounts

• Canals under new management - A review of wildlife value, issues and opprtunities, Briggs, J, 2012 ,British Wildlife:, 23:314-323 .
  
  
• Canals - Wildlife Value and Restoration Issues, Briggs, J, 1996, British Wildlife, 7:365-77
  
  
• British Waterways Biodiversity Framework Document ( the original 1999 summary document) Available as a download here (29MB download of a graphics-heavy overview document )
  
  
• Canal ecology and its management Eaton, J.W. (1996). Proceedings of the World Canals Conference, Birmingham 1996. British Waterways, London. Pp. 1-6.
  

 

 

Technical Guidance and Ecological Classification

• Canals chapter in the Wetland Restoration Manual, The Wildlife Trusts (RSWT), 2nd Edition 2005
  
  
• Britain’s inland waterways:  Balancing the needs of navigation and aquatic wildlife, IWAC (Inland Waterways Advisory Council), 2008
  
  
• Development of a system for classifying the ecological potential of UK and Irish canals SNIFFER, 2008,Project WFD61. Scotland & Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research.
  
  
• Guidance on the Classification of Ecological Potential for Heavily Modified Water Bodies and Artificial Water Bodies UKTAG, 2008, Prepared by Royal Haskoning
  
  
• A survey and monitoring protocol for condition assessment of canal SSSIs. Eaton, J.W. & Willby, N.J. 2003 LIFE in UK Rivers Project. EN/EA
  
  
• Common Standards Monitoring Guidance for Canals JNCC March 2005
  
  

 

 

Canal species studies and accounts

(Studies for specific canals may be listed under the canal headings)

Bats

The most significant studies of bats and canals have come from the Bats & The Millennium Link (BaTML) project on the Forth & Clyde and Union Canals in Scotland.

Various studies are available from the BaTML website including;

• Introducing BATS & The Millennium Link. A study of bats and their use of canal corridor habitat in the Central Belt of Scotland
  
• Survey form templates used by BaTML in connection with the monitoring and distribution of bats in central Scotland
  
• The results of aquatic invertebrate surveys from two sites on The Millennium Link canal system in Scotland
  
• The results of vegetation surveys at two BaTML bat survey sites on the canal system in central Scotland
  
• Activity relating to Daubenton's bat (Myotis daubentonii) on the Union Canal in central Scotland during the transition period between winter and spring
  
• A study of bats at Birkhill Fireclay Mines on the River Avon, Scotland
  
• A New Methodology For Surveying Bats In Narrow Habitat Corridors
  
• The methods adopted by BaTML for recording the echolocation calls of Pipistrellus spp. using Time Expansion Detectors and the analysis thereafter
  
• The diet of Daubenton's bats (Myotis daubentonii) along The Millennium Link canal system in Scotland - a review of potential study methods
  
• Narrowing down the possible roosting locations of Myotis daubentonii along a canal corridor in Scotland. A description of the methods used
  
• Factors affecting the distribution of Pipistrellus pipistrellus and Pipistrellus pygmaeus in the Lothians region, Scotland
  
• A small scale study into the foraging habitat selection of Myotis and Pipistrellus spp. along the Forth & Clyde Canal, Scotland
  
• The speed of travel of Myotis daubentonii along canal corridors in Central Scotland
  
• A study of the emission of social calls by Pipistrellus spp. within central Scotland; including a description of their typical social call structure
  
• The distribution, relative abundance and emitted frequencies of maximum energy ofPipistrellus spp. along the canal corridors in the Central Belt of Scotland
• A five year study into the distribution and abundance of Myotis daubentonii along the canal network of central Scotland
  

 

 

Plants


Floating Water Plantain Luronium natans:

• Floating Water Plantain in Britain - Under-recorded and Overlooked? Ferguson, C, Briggs, J & Willby, N, 1998 British Wildlife 9:298-30
  
  
• A survey and monitoring protocol for floating water plantain Luronium natans in UK freshwater SACs Willby, N.J. & Eaton, J.W. 2002 . LIFE in UK Rivers Project. EN/EA
  
  
• The distribution, ecology and conservation of Luronium natans (L.) Raf. in Britain. Willby, N.J. & Eaton, J.W. (1993) Journal of Aquatic Plant Management 31: 70-76.



General aquatic plant papers:

 

• Methodologies for surveying plant communities in artificial channels Hatcher, D., Eaton, J., Gibson, M. & Leah, R. 1999. Hydrobiologia 415, 87-91.
  
  
• Conservation of aquatic plants in artificial watercourses: are main drains a substitute for vulnerable navigation canals? Goulder, R. (2008) Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 18:163-174.
  
  
• Aquatic plants in nineteenth-century canals and their persistence into the twenty-first century: Yorkshire examples. Goulder, R. (2012) BSBI News 120, 16-23.

 

More to be added soon...

 

 

Birds

• Trends among breeding water birds during 1974-2009, along canals in British Waterways ownership Marchant, J, Hulme, J & Noble, D 2010  BTO Research Report 561

 

Reptiles and amphibians

To follow...

 

Mammals (other than bats)

To follow...

 

Fish

• Zander - the hidden invader Smith, P & Briggs, J, 1999  British Wildlife, 11:2-8
  
  
• Removal of pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca) from a British canal as a management technique to reduce impact on prey fish populations Smith, P.A., Leah, R.T. & Eaton, J.W. (1996) Annales Zoologici Fennici 33: 537-545.
  
  
• A review of the current knowledge on the introduction, ecology and management of zander, (Stizostedion lucioperca) in the UK. Smith, P.A., Leah, R.T. & Eaton, J.W. (1997) In: Stocking and Introduction of Fish, ed. I.G. Cowx. Blackwell Science, Oxford. Pp. 209-224.
  
• Fish community structure and management in navigated British canals. Pygott, J., O’Hara, K. and Eaton, J.W. (1990). European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission, Symposium at Goteborg (Sweden) l988. Pp. 547-557.

 

More to be added soon...

 

Invertebrates

To follow...

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Specific canal studies, accounts and management reports


There are numerous canal ecological studies, though most of the detailed ones (i.e those effectively covering more than than protected species, invasive species and basic habitat information) relate to restoration projects. The following list is, therefore, rather biased to canals subject to recent, or significant future, restoration works.

Montgomery Canal

• The Saga of the Montgomery Canal, Briggs, J, 2006, British Wildlife, 17:401-410
  
  
• Plant Conservation in the Restoration of the Montgomery Canal to Navigation Willby, N.J. & Eaton, J.W. 2002 Research Contract: Interreg IIc for British Waterways.
  
  
• Life Cycles of Aquatic Mcrophytes in the Montgomery Canal: Guidance on Conservation of seven notable species Eaton, J.W., Hatton, K.J. & Willby, N.J. 2004
  
  
• Sustainable channel design in the restoration of the Montgomery Canal Eaton, J.W. & Willby, N.J. 2006. Report to British Waterways.

 

Basingstoke Canal

• Basingstoke Canal Conservation Management Plan, Basingstoke Canal Authority, 2008
  
  
• Anthropogenic pressure on a Molluscan–Trematode community over a long-term period in the Basingstoke Canal, and its implications for Ecosystem Health.  Morley, N & Lewis, J, 2007 EcoHealth 3, 269–280
  
  
• The Basingstoke Canal SSSI: analysis of 1988-1998 ecological data and recommendations for future management and monitoring James, C.S. & Eaton, J.W. 1999. University of Liverpool for Basingstoke Canal Authority.

 

Pocklington, Leven & Driffield Canals

• A survey of the aquatic flora of the Pocklington Canal, Yorkshire, Tolhurst, S.A.. 1986. Edited by H.E.Stace and M.A.Palmer. Contract Survey No. 4, Nature Conservancy Council, Peterborough.
  
  
• A survey of the aquatic flora of the Pocklington Canal 1990: a comparison with the NCC survey of 1986, Head, R.M. 1991. Edited by C.E.Tandy, Environmental and Scientific Services, British Waterways, Gloucester. 62pp.
  
  

• Aquatic plants in the Pocklington and Driffield canals with regard to the potential extension of navigation. Goulder, R. (2003) The Naturalist 128: 129-146.
  
  
• Aquatic plants in the Leven Canal, East Yorkshire: does the waterway continue to be an important site for botanical conservation? Goulder, R. (2006) The Naturalist 131: 77-82.

 

Cotswold Canals (Stroudwater and Thames & Severn Canals)
To follow...

 

Rochdale Canal
To follow...

Huddersfield Narrow Canal
To follow...

Forth & Clyde and Union Canals
To follow... And see BaTML studies under Bats above.

 

Kennet & Avon Canal

• The Kennet & Avon Canal restoration from a water vole’s perspective Dijksterhuis, O & Phillips,V 2002.  IEEM Bulletin 35
  
  
• Sewage effluent clean-up reduces phosphorus but not phytoplankton in lowland chalk stream impacted by water mixing from adjacent canal Neal, C et al 2010 Science of the Total Environment 408: 5306–5316

 

More to follow...

 

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Liverpool/Stirling University Studies (studies based on various PhD and other research projects on canals across the UK and Ireland)

 

• Willby, N.J. (2007) Managing invasive aquatic plants: problems and prospects. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 17:659-665
  
  
• Willby, N.J. Pygott, J.R. & Eaton, J.W. (2001) Inter-relationships between standing crop, biodiversity and trait attributes of aquatic vegetation in artificial waterways. Freshwater Biology 43: 43-74
  
  
• Willby, N, Pygott, J, Eaton,J 2001 Inter-relationships between standing crop, biodiversity and trait attributes of aquatic vegetation in artificial waterways Freshwater Biology: 46, 883-902
  
  
• Harris, C.J. 1988. Plant Community Change in the Montgomeryshire Canal in Relation to Succession Theory. PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool.
  
  
• Hatcher, D.R. 2000. Sustainable Nature Conservation in Canals Ph.D. Thesis, University of Liverpool.
  
  
• Murphy, K.J., Willby, N.J. and Eaton, J.W. (1995). Ecological impacts and management of boat traffic on navigable inland waterways. In : The Ecological Basis for River Management, eds. D.M. Harper and A.J.D. Ferguson. Wiley, Chichester. Pp. 427-442.
  
  
• Willby, N.J. & Eaton, J.W. (1996) Backwater habitats and their role in nature conservation on navigable waterways. Hydrobiologia 340: 333-338.

 

More to follow...

 

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