Beagh's Burn - United Kingdom

Basic Information
Site Name
Beagh's Burn
Short name
UWMN_19
Country
United Kingdom
Web Address
UK UWMN Site Beagh's Burn
Site Manager
Don Monteith
Keywords
freshwater
lakes
Site Description
UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network (UK UWMN) site. Beagh's Burn lies in the Glens of Antrim in north-eastern Northern Ireland. The catchment area is 302 ha and rises steeply from 150 m, just above the confluence with the Glendun River, to a maximum of 397 m at Oghtbristacree. Localised mineral soils in the lowermost area give way to blanket peats which dominate most of the catchment. In the upper catchment the peat is partly drained and in places extensively eroded. The underlying geology is quartz-schists of the Glendun series. Deciduous trees grow on the steep slopes immediately adjacent to the lowermost stream stretch which coincides with the sampling station. Elsewhere moorland species characterised by Calluna, Molinia and Sphagnum mosses, comprise the catchment vegetation. Old walls, derelict sheep pens and improvement of the lowest grazing land attest to a former level of land-use which exceeded the present low intensity sheep grazing. The annual rainfall is c. 1600 mm. Some data are managed by UK ECN Data Centre. Note: The area is the size of the catchment.
Last modified
2020-06-29 10:06:00
General Characteristics, Purpose, History
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
1988
Purpose
Originally part of a network monitoring the quality of acid waters in the UK. Now the purpose is to track changes in surface water quality and freshwater biodiversity across all upland regions of the UK, not only those sensitive to acid deposition. The aim is to monitor the separate and combined impacts of all principal pressures facing upland waters, including acid deposition, nutrient-N deposition, climate change, toxic substance contamination and land-use change.
Research Topics
biology
taxonomy
ecology
biodiversity
genetic diversity
species diversity
aquatic ecology
stream ecology
community ecology
community dynamics
trophic dynamics
ecosystem ecology
population ecology
population dynamics
plants population changes over time
ecosystem function
chemistry
depositions chemistry
water chemistry
hydrology
meteorology
climatology
climate change
environmental science
Parameters
nitrogen content
change in population size over time
ammonium content
dissolved nutrient
total organic carbon
dissolved organic carbon in water
suspended solids
ecosystem parameter
inorganic nutrient content
faunistic diversity
floristic diversity
species list
species composition
plant species composition
species richness
species presence
diversity index
water parameter
water acidity
water alkalinity
chlorophyll content of water
conductivity
water transparency
water level
stage height
water quality
water temperature
Geographic
Size
302.00ha
Elevation (average)
273.00msl
Elevation (min)
150.00msl
Elevation (max)
397.00msl
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
UK ECN✖ (LTER_EU_UK_072)The affiliation of this site with "UK ECN" is not verified.
Projects
UK Eutrophying and Acidifying atmospheric Pollutants (UKEAP) network
UK Upland Waters Monitoring Network
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Site information [.json]

Centroid coordinates [.shp] [.kml]
Bounding Box [.shp] [.kml]
Boundaries [.shp] [.kml]
GEO-BON Biome
Fresh water rivers
Biome
Fresh Water Rivers
Ecosystem and Land Use
Rivers
Biogeographical Region
Atlantic Bio-geographical Region
Air Temperature: Average Annual
6.90°C
Precipitation Annual
1600.00mm
Geology
Quartz-schists of the Glendun series.
Vegetation
Deciduous trees grow on the steep slopes immediately adjacent to the lowermost stream stretch which coincides with the sampling station. Elsewhere moorland species characterised by Calluna, Molinia and Sphagnum mosses, comprise the catchment vegetation.
Soils
Localised mineral soils in the lowermost area give way to blanket peats which dominate most of the catchment. In the upper catchment the peat is partly drained and in places extensively eroded.
Hydrology
The altitude range is 230 m from the sampling station to the headwaters. The channel section utilised for biological sampling lies just upstream of the confluence with the Glendun River and is steep, being punctuated with waterfalls and rapids. The 2-4 m wide stream bed comprises mainly bedrock, boulders and cobbles and the sampling reach is heavily shaded by ash, willow and hawthorn in summer.
EUNIS habitat
Inland surface waters (C)
Inland surface waters (C) » Surface running waters (C2)
Site Type (Spatial Design)
Simple Site
Design of Experimentation
no experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
not applicable
Design of Observation
only observation
Scale of Observation
plot within catchment
Infrastructure
Data infrastructure » Data storage » Relational database
Infrastructure notes
Accommodation in nearby villages
Accessible All Year
Yes
All parts of Site Accessible
No
Permanent Power Supply
No
Permanent Operation
No
Operation Notes
Chemistry sampled monthly. Biological measurements made annually
Site Visit Interval
30
General Data Policy
The data provider must be offered co-authorship for publications using this dataset at least within the metadata description
Data Storage Location
Distributed over multiple institutions
Data Services
No data service implemented
LTER Site Classification
Extensive
There is EURO-CORDEX climate scenario data available for this site:
Projected Near Surface Specific Humidity ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Precipitation ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Sea Level Pressure ChangeRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Surface Downwelling Shortwave RadiationRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Wind SpeedRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Maximum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85
Projected Daily Minimum Near-Surface Air TemperatureRCP26RCP45RCP85

You can also download the entire climate scenario dataset for this site from the EUDAT B2SHARE data store.