New article in The Conversation about fish passes by Stephanie Januchowski-Hartley, Swansea University and Virgilio Hermoso, Universidad de Sevilla Over one million dams and culverts (tunnels that encircle rivers passing under roads) block the movements of fish and other wildlife in Europe. Scientists estimate that less than 1% of catchments in the UK are free […]
Where can we find road-river bridges and culverts?
Hello out there??!! We have been quiet on the blog but also busy advancing on our research, creations, and engagement programs with schools and preparing for an exciting arts festival in Bangor (Metamorffosis). Today though we are excited to share a newly published paper based on our ongoing efforts to map road-river infrastructure across Great […]
Understanding Differences Between Lakes and Reservoirs
Understanding Differences Between Lakes and Reservoirs Penny Beames and I published an article today in the journal Frontiers for Young Minds where we present differences between lakes and reservoirs, and why it matters for people and nature. Our article was reviewed by students (ages 14-17) at Peru iGEM Team. The full article is shared below […]
How city roads trap migrating fish
Greater London is crisscrossed by 14,800km of public roads, each with an average width of 8m. This network accounts for 8% of the metropolitan area, and motorways and A-roads alone cross the Thames and its tributaries at least 400 times. A similar picture is seen in cities across the world. You’ve heard of, and maybe […]
Expanding global instream infrastructure inventories through participatory science
Guest post by Aaron Whittemore Hi everyone! I am Aaron. I am a collaborator with FIRE Lab and am currently working as a science communications specialist after receiving my Master’s at Virginia Tech in the US. Today, I’m sharing newly published research that I led with a team of people from around the world to […]
Culverts – the major threat to fish you’ve probably never heard of
You probably cross rivers every day without realising it. Beneath the concrete underfoot are culverts – tunnels installed under roads and railways that allow rivers to pass from one side to the other. Like bridges, culverts allow people to cross rivers, but unlike bridges, culverts often don’t allow the fishes living in those rivers to […]
Exploring European Eel journeys through Clyde River Catchment
Hello! Kherlen here, and I am back on the blog to share about my MSc dissertation research, which I am leading with the FIRE Lab team. My project explores how instream infrastructure (bridges, dams, weirs) can affect the migration of European Eels (Anguilla anguilla) in River Clyde catchment, Scotland. It is hard to imagine a […]
Exploring your local river on Google Earth
We can learn about and visit our local rivers, but sometimes we might like to learn different things and see more of the river than we can do by visiting it locally. How can we do that? One way is to use tools like Google Earth that project satellite imagery onto our computer screens, allowing […]
Getting to know India’s Freshwater Eels
Welcome to the Indian edition of our migratory fish blog post series. I am Sayali and I have been working as a research assistant for FIRElab since November 2018. I am passionate about restoring river paths to protect our freshwater fish species and rebuild connections in river systems so that our fish can swim freely. […]
Addressing challenges at road-river crossings
Last week, FIRE Lab hosted a one-day workshop with collaborators Maria Pregnolato (Bristol Uni), and Carlos Cabo and Pipo Roces (Swansea Uni). The focus of the workshop was on bridges, particularly those occur where roads cross over rivers (what we refer to as road-river crossings). At the workshop, we shared ideas about methods and strategies […]