Watershed services delivered by upland farms

Apr 2017 to Mar 2020

To quantify through measurements and modelling the flood mitigation and water quality benefits of interventions on upland farms, notably farm woods, hedgerows, soil improvement practices and channel re-alignment. The focus is within the Leith and Lowther Basins in the Eden Catchment, Cumbria (UK). This is a partnership project with the Eden Rivers Trust.

Photo: Measuring the effects of subsoiling on infiltration capacity (or 'saturated hydraulic conductivity of the topsoil') using two Ring Permeameters (Chappell & Ternan, 1997 Earth Surf Process Landf) used in situ within fields in the Lowther basin.

Funding sources

Eden Rivers Trust (EAA7499) and European Regional Development Trust Fund (EAA7498) via the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (project CGE50)

Investigators

Ethan Wallace (project researcher), Nick Chappell, Wlodek Tych and John Quinton (Lancaster University), with partners Alice Robinson and Daniel Brazier (Eden Rivers Trust).

Project Publications (ongoing)

Wallace, E.E., McShane, G., Tych, W., Kretzschmar, A., McCann, T. and Chappell, N.A. 2021. The effect of hedgerow wild-margins on topsoil hydraulic properties, and overland-flow incidence, magnitude and water-quality. Hydrological Processes 35(3): e14098. doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14098 view online or view paper (pdf).

Wallace, E. E. and Chappell, N.A. 2020. A statistical comparison of spatio-temporal surface moisture patterns beneath a semi-natural grassland and permanent pasture: From drought to saturation. Hydrological Processes 34: 3000-3020. doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13774 view online or view paper (pdf).

Wallace, E. E. and Chappell, N.A. 2019. Blade aeration effects on near-surface permeability and overland-flow likelihood on two stagnosol pastures in Cumbria, UK. Journal of Environmental Quality 48(6): 1766-1774. view online or view paper (pdf).