Teagasc researchers featured recently on ‘10 Things to Know About …’ - a new science television series on RTÉ One.

Water is something we often take for granted, but it’s a hugely valuable resource that plays a vital part in every aspect of our lives.

This episode “Water – What goes around comes (back) around”, looks at how CSI-style forensic science technology is being used for agriculture.

Teagasc’s Dr Daire Ó hUallacháin and Teagasc Walsh Fellow PhD student Sophie Sheriff spoke to presenter Jonathan McCrea about how they are using forensic geoscience to trace where sediment originates to analyse potential threats to aquatic flora and species such as the freshwater pearl mussel and Atlantic salmon.

“Too much sediment in rivers and streams can clog up gravels and spawning ground, thus having a negative impact on many of our most threatened aquatic species such as Salmon and Freshwater Pearl Mussel. Using novel fingerprinting methods to determine where exactly the sediment is coming from, allows us to design and target specific management techniques to reduce the amount of sediment coming from these problem areas,” explained Daire.

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