Vegetation (Floating River Vegetation) - Office of Public Works

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2.0 Description of the Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) Special Areas of Conservation were legally established as nature refuges under Article 3 of the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC). The purpose of this legislation was to develop an ecological network of Special Areas of Conservation across all European Union states that collectively would be known as Natura 2000. In ecological terms there was a legal obligation for each member state to identify, conserve and protect site(s) supporting rare or endangered plants, animals and their habitats (section 1.2). Designation of Irish sites was performed in accordance with the criteria set-out in Annex III of the Habitats Directive. Some of the selection parameters used by the National Parks and Wildlife Services are: •Importance of the site in terms of the habitats and species it supports •Degree of representation of a habitat or habitats within a site to enhance, conserve and preserve habitat diversity. •Extent of isolation of the population (the more isolated the population the greater the genetic divergence therefore greater genetic diversity). •Degree of destruction if any that has occurred on the site •Geographic distribution, frequency and distribution of habitats and / or protected and rare species, presence of a priority habitat and the presence of a habitat or species important or unique to Ireland (National Parks and Wildlife Services website). Currently Ireland has proposed 420 sites as candidate Special Areas of Conservation to the European Commission accounting for 10,000 square kilometres of land. The Special Areas of Conservation include priority and important (but not priority) habitats along with protected plant and animal species. 2.1 Description of the conservation aspects This study focuses on Special Areas of Conservation with the designated habitat of submerged or floating vegetation with low water level during summer and with typically Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitrichio-Batrachion plant species or the bryophyte aquatic moss as a conservation aspect. Flora associated with habitat 3260 includes Ranunculus saniculifolius, Ranunculus trichophyllus, Ranunculus fluitans, Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. penicillatus, Ranunculus penicillatus ssp. Pseudofluitantis, Ranunculus aquatilis, Myriophyllum spp., Callitriche spp., Sium erectum (or Berula erecta), Zannichellia palustris, Potamogeton spp., and the moss Fontinalis antipyretica. Groenlandia densa (Opposite leaved pondweed) is also included in the list. The flowering rush Butomus umbellatus may be present as part of the bank flora where floating river vegetation has been identified. The occurrence of this species may be an indicator and should be noted (ENUIS website). 4
Currently twenty-one Special Areas of Conservation are listed on the EUNIS habitat listings that have floating river vegetation as a conservation aspect. Of the twenty-one, only five Special Areas of Conservation overlap with channels maintained by the Office of Public Works namely Lough Corrib IE 0000297, Lower River Suir IE 0002137, River Barrow and River Nore IE 0002162, Lower River Shannon IE 0002165 and the Bandon River IE 0002171 (Table 1). Site Code SAC Name Arterial drainage scheme Floating river vegetation 0297 Lough Corrib Corrib Clare, Corrib Headford Conservation aspect 2137 Lower River Suir Carrick-on-Suir Flood Relief Conservation aspect 2162 River Barrow & River Nore 2165 Lower River Shannon Kilkenny Flood Relief Scheme Conservation aspect Ballynaclough, Bunratty-Rineanna, Bushy Island-Martin, Coonagh Embankment, Deel, Feale, Fergus, Foynes, Groody, Maigue Outfall, Mulkear-Ballymackeough, Newtown-Tervoe, Owengarney, Ringmoylan Mellon Conservation aspect 2171 Bandon River Dunmanway Flood Relief Scheme Conservation aspect Table 1 Information provided by Office of Public Works on drainage schemes in SACs listed. Although floating river vegetation is a conservation aspect of the Lower River Suir and the River Barrow and River Nore SAC, only relatively short sections of the River Suir through Carrick- on-Suir and the River Nore through Kilkenny form part of the flood relief schemes. Although modification of the watercourses may have impacted upon their conservation status, the flood relief schemes were included in the survey. Details of Priority and Important habitats for each Special Area of Conservation are listed in Appendix A. 2.1.1 Lough Corrib Special Area of Conservation IE 0 000297. Lough Corrib, situated north of Galway City, is the second largest lake in Ireland. Two diverse sections are evident in the Lake with shallow water on limestone to the south and deep water on granite schist, shale and sandstone substrate to the north. Landuse surrounding Lough Corrib includes agricultural grassland to the south and the east with bog and heath to the north and west. A minimum of six priority and ten important habitats have been identified within the Lough Corrib SAC including floating river vegetation habitat code EU 3260 (Natura 2000). The main river systems within the Lough Corrib SAC are the River Clare, River Corrib, River Cregg and Owenriff River. Several rivers within the Lough Corrib SAC are known to support floating river vegetation of Ranunculion fluitantis and Callitrichio-Batrachion species and mosses 5
Page 1 and 2: ISSN 1649 - 9840 SERIES OF ECOLOGIC
Page 3 and 4: Foreword This Ecological Impact Ass
Page 5 and 6: Executive Summary Table of Contents
Page 7 and 8: 1.0 Introduction This study was com
Page 9: and fauna. The OPW has a multi-annu
Page 13 and 14: 2.1.4 Lower River Shannon Special A
Page 15 and 16: 2.2.4 Site elevations within the Lo
Page 17 and 18: 2.3.4 Site integrity of the Lower R
Page 19 and 20: 3.0 Ecological Assessment of Water
Page 21 and 22: 3.2 Distribution and extent of floa
Page 23 and 24: 3.2.1 Floating river vegetation of
Page 25 and 26: aquatic moss. 3.2.3 Floating river
Page 27 and 28: 3.2.5 Floating river vegetation wit
Page 29 and 30: Starwort, Callitriche species •Ro
Page 31 and 32: Each form of reproduction requires
Page 33 and 34: prevented aquatic growth. Water lev
Page 35 and 36: G.densa was the dominant floating r
Page 37 and 38: 4.0 Description of maintenance oper
Page 39 and 40: consultation with the Foreman / Tec
Page 41 and 42: 4.3 River corridor water dynamics A
Page 43 and 44: Not shown in the above data set is
Page 45 and 46: 4.4 Physical, chemical and biologic
Page 47 and 48: •Survey watercourses to determine
Page 49 and 50: The primary riverbed substrate of w
Page 51 and 52: gravel require loosening assess the
Page 53 and 54: • Livestock should be restricted
Page 55 and 56: River Breagagh Winter 2006 River Br
Page 57 and 58: River Breagagh Winter 2006 Ranuncli
Page 59 and 60: 6.0 Conclusion and summary •Arter
Page 61 and 62:
References •Blamey, M., Fritter,
Page 63 and 64:
Appendix A - Special Areas of Conse
Page 65 and 66:
Lower River Shannon Special Areas o
Page 67 and 68:
Channel name Location coordinates E
Page 69 and 70:
Appendix C - Habitat classification
Page 71 and 72:
Lower River Shannon Special Area of
Page 73 and 74:
Lough Corrib Special Area of Conser
Page 75 and 76:
7 Lower River Suir Special Area of
Page 77 and 78:
C1 Lower River Shannon Special Area
Page 79 and 80:
6 C1/12/2 C1/18/1/1 /14/7/3 C/20/1
Page 81 and 82:
Appendix E - Physical parameters re
Page 83 and 84:
River Barrow and River Nore Special
Page 85 and 86:
Latin Name English Name Appendix F
Page 87 and 88:
Latin Name English Name Potamogeton
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Vegetation (Floating River Vegetation) - Office of Public Works

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