New guest blog on riparian invasions

As many of the invasive non-native plant species are raising their ugly heads along our rivers and streams, it is timely that we have a new blog from a young researcher wrestling with knotweed and balsam and their impacts upon salmonids.

Alex Seeney first qualified with a degree in Veterinary Science from the Royal Veterinary College but decided to change tack and get more ecological via a Freshwater & Marine Ecology MSc with our tame Prof, Jonny Grey, at Queen Mary University of London. There he honed his skills in freshwater invertebrate ID, contributing to the fascinating research in the thermal springs of Iceland that Dr Eoin O’Gorman reported for us in Salmo 2016. He is currently wading through the last of his samples at the University of Stirling, trying to identify: the influence of riparian invasive plants on the abundance, age structure and persistence of native juvenile salmonid populations; the impacts of riparian plant type and cover on fluvial hydromorphology and local habitat suitability; the mechanisms underpinning these changes, linked to the presence of riparian invasive plants where possible. He is also keen to assess the reversibility of these mechanisms.

Check out his work over on the blog.