Hydro-ecology

Hydro-ecology is all about drawing together and applying the approaches used in specific ecological, earth and hydrological sciences to achieve an understanding of how plant and animal communities interact with their supporting soil water, surface water and groundwater systems. With this information it is possible to set nature conservation objectives for site management based upon facts.

The main sciences involved are:

Ecology
The study of plants and animals as individuals and as communities in relation to each other and to the physical and chemical environment in which the occur and on which they depend.

Wetland Ecology
The study of plants and animal communities regularly associated with open water or saturated ground.

Hydrology
The study of water levels and balances, especially of surface waters and their exchange between the earth and atmosphere.

Soil and Peat (Pedology)
The study of the differing soil conditions and their relationships to geology, fauna and flora and hydrology. This includes both mineral soils and peat deposits.

Geology
The study of rocks and sediments that comprise the Earth (petrology and sedimentology) together with related studies such as of past life (palaeontology), landform (geomorphology) and changes in earth systems and processes (tectonics).

Hydrogeology
The study of groundwater and how it behaves in rocks below ground.

Hydrochemistry
The study of the chemical characteristics of ground and surface waters including acidity and alkalinity and the occurrence and proportions of dissolved nutrients and contaminants.