Abstract
Small streams dominate the hydrological network within Europe. In many regions, these waterbodies drain large areas of agricultural land and are vulnerable to pressures linked to livestock management, which can include direct livestock access. This study investigated the impacts of cattle access to watercourses on the contamination of streambed sediment with Escherichia coli (E. coli) in five agricultural catchments. Sediments were collected at cattle access sites and at areas upstream with no cattle access, in two time points in the livestock management cycle (mid-grazing and post-grazing season). Relatively high E. coli concentrations of 103 to 104 CFU g dry wt−1 were found at sites with no access in mid-grazing season. However, concentrations were significantly higher at sites with cattle access. E. coli was present, but in generally lower concentrations, in the post-grazing season. Additionally, the study found a significant negative relationship between the quality of the general riparian environment and E. coli bed sediment concentrations at the cattle access sites in the mid-grazing season, and a significant positive relationship between E. coli concentrations and estimated cattle density locally in post-grazing season. These findings indicate that allowing livestock access to watercourses can have implications for both water quality and human health.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdelzaher, A. M., M. E. Wright, C. Ortega, H. M. Solo-Gabriele, G. Miller, S. Elmir, X. Newman, P. Shih, J. Alfredo Bonilla, T. D. Bonilla, C. J. Palmer, T. Scott, J. Lukasik, V. J. Harwood, S. McQuaig, C. Sinigalliano, M. Gidley, L. R. W. Plano, X. Zhu, J. D. Wang & L. E. Fleming, 2010. Presence of pathogens and indicator microbes at a non-point source subtropical recreational marine beach. Applied Environmental Microbiology 76: 724–732. https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.02127-09.
Arnscheidt, J., P. Jordan, S. Li, S. McCormick, R. McFaul, H. J. McGrogan & J. T. Sims, 2007. Defining the sources of low-flow phosphorus transfers in complex catchments. Science of the Total Environment 382: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.03.036.
Badgley, B. D., F. I. M. Thomas & V. J. Harwood, 2011. Quantifying environmental reservoirs of fecal indicator bacteria associated with sediment and submerged aquatic vegetation. Environmental Microbiology 13: 932–942. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02397.x.
Biggs, J., S. Von Fumetti & M. Kelly-Quinn, 2017. The importance of small waterbodies for biodiversity and ecosystem services: implications for policy makers. Hydrobiologia 793: 3–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-3007-0.
Boehm, A. B., J. Griffith, C. Mcgee, T. A. Edge, R. Whitman, M. Getrich, J. A. Jay, D. Ferguson, K. D. Goodwin, C. M. Lee, M. Madison & S. B. Weisberg, 2010. Faecal indicator bacteria enumeration in beach sand: a comparison study of extraction methods in medium to coarse sands. Journal of Applied Microbiology 107: 1740–1750. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2009.04440.x.
Bonilla, T. D., K. Nowosielski, M. Cuvelier, A. Hartz, M. Green, N. Esiobu, D. S. McCorquodale, J. M. Fleisher & A. Rogerson, 2007. Prevalence and distribution of fecal indicator organisms in South Florida beach sand and preliminary assessment of health effects associated with beach sand exposure. Marine Pollution Bulletin 54: 1472–1482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.04.016.
Bragina, L., O. Sherlock, A. J. van Rossum & E. Jennings, 2017. Cattle exclusion using fencing reduces Escherichia coli (E. coli) level in stream sediment reservoirs in northeast Ireland. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment 239: 349–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2017.01.021.
Bragina, L., 2017. Assessing microbial contamination of stream sediments in a rural agricultural catchment. PhD Thesis. Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland.
Brehony, C., J. Cullinan, M. Cormican & D. Morris, 2018. Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli incidence is related to small area variation in cattle density in a region in Ireland. Science of the Total Environment 637–638: 865–870. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.038.
British Standards Institution (BSI), 2007. BS EN ISO 8199:2007 Water Quality: General Guidance on the Enumeration of Micro-organisms by Culture. BSI, London. ISBN 978 0 580 59549 3
Carter, M. R. & E. G. Gregorich (eds), 1993. Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
Central Statistics Office, 2020. https://www.cso.ie/en/
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Shiga-toxin/verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC/VTEC) infection. In: ECDC. Annual epidemiological report for 2018. Stockholm: ECDC; 2020. Retrieved from https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/shiga-toxin-verocytototoxin-escherichia-coli-annual-epidemiological-report-2018.pdf
Cho, K. H., Y. A. Pachepsky, J. H. Kim, A. K. Guber, D. R. Shelton & R. Rowland, 2010. Release of Escherichia coli from the bottom sediment in a first-order creek: experiment and reach-specific modelling. Journal of Hydrology 391: 322–332.
Cho, K. H., Y. A. Pachepsky, D. M. Oliver, R. W. Muirhead, Y. Park, R. S. Quilliam & D. R. Shelton, 2016. Modeling fate and transport of fecally-derived microorganisms at the watershed scale: state of the science and future opportunities. Water Research 100: 38–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.07.033.
Collins, R. & K. Rutherford, 2004. Modelling bacterial water quality in streams draining pastoral land. Water Research 38: 700–712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2003.10.045.
Collins, R., S. Elliott & R. Adams, 2005. Overland flow delivery of faecal bacteria to a headwater pastoral stream. Journal of Applied Microbiology 99: 126–132. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2005.02580.x.
European Commission, 2003. Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). Guidance Document No 10. Rivers and Lakes – Typology, Reference Conditions and Classification Systems. Retrieved from https://circabc.europa.eu/sd/a/dce34c8d-6e3d-469a-a6f3-b733b829b691/Guidance%20No%2010%20-%20references%20conditions%20inland%20waters%20-%20REFCOND%20(WG%202.3).pdf
Conroy, E., J. N. Turner, A. Rymszewicz, J. J. O’Sullivan, M. Bruen, D. Lawler, H. Lally & M. Kelly-Quinn, 2016. The impact of cattle access on ecological water quality in streams: examples from agricultural catchments within Ireland. Science of the Total Environment 547: 17–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.120.
Craig, D. L., H. J. Fallowfield & N. J. Cromar, 2002. Enumeration of faecal coliforms from recreational coastal sites: evaluation of techniques for the separation of bacteria from sediments. Journal of Applied Microbiology 93: 557–565. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2672.2002.01730.x.
Croxen, M. A., R. J. Law, R. Scholz, K. M. Keeney, M. Wlodarska & B. B. Finlay, 2013. Recent advances in understanding enteric pathogenic Escherichia coli. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 26: 822–880. https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00022-13.
Davies, C. M., J. A. H. Long, M. Donald & N. J. Ashbolt, 1995. Survival of fecal microorganisms in marine and freshwater sediments. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 61: 1888–1896. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.61.5.1888-1896.1995.
Davies-Colley, R. J., J. W. Nagels, R. A. Smith, R. G. Young & C. J. Phillips, 2004. Water quality impact of a dairy cow herd crossing a stream. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 38: 569–576. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288330.2004.9517262.
Davies-Colley, R., E. Lydiard & J. Nagels, 2008. Stormflow-dominated loads of faecal pollution from an intensively dairy-farmed catchment. Water Science and Technology 57: 1519–1523. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2008.257.
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine & Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, 2017. Nitrates Explanatory Handbook for Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters Regulations 2018. Ireland.
Drummond, J. D., R. J. Davies-Colley, R. Stott, J. P. Sukias, J. W. Nagels, A. Sharp & A. I. Packman, 2014. Retention and remobilization dynamics of fine particles and microorganisms in pastoral streams. Water Research 66: 459–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.08.025.
Edberg, S. C., E. W. Rice, R. J. Karlin & M. J. Allen, 2000. Escherichia coli: the best biological drinking water indicator for public health protection. Journal of Applied Microbiology 88: 106S-116S. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2000.tb05338.x.
Environmental Protection Agency, 2018. Focus on Private Water Supplies 2017 (ISBN: 978-1-84095-792-1). Retrieved from http://www.epa.ie/pubs/reports/water/drinking/Focus%20on%20Private%20Water%20Supplies%202017_web_final.pdf
Environmental Protection Agency, 2020. Accessed online at https://www.catchments.ie/data/#/catchment/25A?_k=gj6taf
Eurostat, 2020. Agri-environmental indicator – livestock patterns. Accessed online on May 5th, 2020 at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Agri-environmental_indicator_-_livestock_patterns
Eyles, R., D. Niyogi, C. Townsend, G. Benwell & P. Weinstein, 2003. Spatial and temporal patterns of Campylobacter contamination underlying public health risk in the Taieri River, New Zealand. Journal of Environmental Quality 32: 1820–1828. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2003.1820.
Fanning, A., M. Craig, P. Webster, C. Bradley, D. Tierney, R. Wilkes, A. Mannix, P. Treacy, F. Kelly, R. Geoghegan, T. Kent & M. Mageean, 2017. Water Quality in Ireland 2010-2015. Environmental Agency, Wexford, Ireland.
Frey, S. K., N. Gottschall, G. Wilkes, D. S. Gregoire, E. Topp, K. D. M. Pintar, M. Sunohara, R. Marti & D. R. Lapen, 2015. Rainfall-induced runoff from exposed streambed sediments: an important source of water pollution. Journal of Environmental Quality 44: 236–247. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2014.03.0122.
Garvey, P., A. Carroll, E. McNamara & P. J. McKeown, 2015. Verotoxigenic Escherichia coli transmission in Ireland: a review of notified outbreaks, 2004–2012. Epidemiology and Infection 144: 917–926. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268815002034.
Garzio-Hadzick, A., D. R. Shelton, R. L. Hill, Y. A. Pachepsky, A. K. Guber & R. Rowland, 2010. Survival of manure-borne E. coli in streambed sediment: effects of temperature and sediment properties. Water Research 44: 2753–2762. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2010.02.011.
Gray, N. F., 2008. Drinking Water Quality: Problems and Solutions, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, New York:
Hanlon, E. A., G. V. Johnson, J. B. Jones Jr., Y. P. Karla, O. R. Miller, P. N. Soltanpour, M. R. Tucker, D. D. Warnke & M. Watson, 2000. Soil Analysis Handbook of Reference Methods, Soil and Plant Analysis Council Inc, U.S:
Harris, D., W. R. Horwáth & C. Van Kessel, 2001. Acid fumigation of soils to remove carbonates prior to total organic carbon or carbon-13 isotopic analysis. Soil Science Society of America Journal 65: 1853–1856. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2001.1853.
Hassard, F., C. L. Gwyther, K. Farkas, A. Andrews, V. Jones, B. Cox, H. Brett, D. L. Jones, J. E. McDonald & S. K. Malham, 2016. Abundance and distribution of enteric bacteria and viruses in coastal and estuarine sediments—a review. Frontiers in Microbiology 7: 1–31. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01692.
Hassard, F., A. Andrews, D. L. Jones, L. Parsons, V. Jones, B. A. Cox, P. Daldorph, H. Brett, J. E. McDonald & S. K. Malham, 2017. Physicochemical factors influence the abundance and culturability of human enteric pathogens and fecal indicator organisms in estuarine water and sediment. Frontiers in Microbiology 8: 1–18. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01996.
Herbst, D. B., M. T. Bogan, S. K. Roll & H. D. Safford, 2012. Effects of livestock exclusion on in-stream habitat and benthic invertebrate assemblages in montane streams. Freshwater Biology 57: 204–217. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2427.2011.02706.x.
Hodgson, C. J., D. M. Oliver, R. D. Fish, N. M. Bulmer, A. L. Heathwaite, M. Winter & D. R. Chadwick, 2016. Seasonal persistence of faecal indicator organisms in soil following dairy slurry application to land by surface broadcasting and shallow injection. Journal of Environmental Management 183: 325-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.08.047
Ishii, S. & M. J. Sadowsky, 2008. Escherichia coli in the environment: implications for water quality and human health. Microbes and Environments 23: 101–108. https://doi.org/10.1264/jsme2.23.101.
Ishii, S., D. L. Hansen, R. E. Hicks & M. J. Sadowsky, 2007. Beach sand and sediments are temporal sinks and sources of Escherichia coli in Lake Superior. Environmental Science and Technology 41: 2203–2209. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0623156.
Jamieson, R. C., D. M. Joy, H. Lee, R. Kostaschuk & R. J. Gordon, 2005a. Resuspension of sediment-associated Escherichia coli in a natural stream. Journal of Environmental Quality 34: 581. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2005.0581.
Jamieson, R., D. M. Joy, H. Lee, R. Kostaschuk & R. Gordon, 2005b. Transport and deposition of sediment-associated Escherichia coli in natural streams. Water Research 39: 2665–2675. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2005.04.040.
Jang, J., H-G. Hur, M. J. Sadowsky, M. N. Byappanahalli, T. Yan & S. Ishii, 2017. Environmental Escherichia coli: ecology and public health implications - a review. Journal of Applied Microbiology 123: 570-581. https://doi.org/10.1111/jam.13468
Kaper, J. B., J. P. Nataro & H. L. T. Mobley, 2004. Pathogenic Escherichia coli. Nature Reviews Microbiology 2: 123–140. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro818.
Karmali, M. A., V. Gannon & J. M. Sargeant, 2010. Verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC). Veterinary Microbiology 140: 360–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2009.04.011.
Kauffman, J. B., W. C. Krueger & M. Vavra, 1983. Impacts of cattle on stream banks in northeastern Oregon. Journal of Range Management 36: 683–685.
Kilgarriff, P., M. Ryan, C. O’Donoghue, S. Green & D. ÓhUallacháin, 2020. Livestock exclusion from watercourses: policy effectiveness and implications. Environmental Science and Policy 106: 58–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2020.01.013.
Kim, J. W., Y. A. Pachepsky, D. R. Shelton & C. Coppock, 2010. Effect of streambed bacteria release on E. coli concentrations: monitoring and modelling with the modified SWAT. Ecological Modelling 221: 1592–1604. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.03.005.
Kristensen, P. & L. Globevnik, 2014. European small water bodies. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 114: 281–287. https://doi.org/10.3318/bioe.2014.13.
Leip, A., G. Billen, J. Garnier, B. Grizzetti, L. Lassaletta & S. Reis, 2015. Impacts of European livestock production: nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus and greenhouse gas emissions, land-use, water eutrophication and biodiversity. Environmental Research Letters 10: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/10/11/115004.
Lenth, R., 2016. Least-squares means: the R Package lsmeans. Journal of Statistical Software 69: 1–33. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v069.i01.
McCabe, E., C. M. Burgess, D. Lawal, P. Whyte & G. Duffy, 2018. An investigation of shedding and super-shedding of Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli O157 and E. coli O26 in cattle presented for slaughter in the Republic of Ireland. Zoonoses and Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1111/zph.12531.
McGarrigle, M., 2014. Assessment of small water bodies in Ireland. Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 3: 119–128. https://doi.org/10.3318/bioe.2014.15.
Muirhead, R. W., R. J. Davies-Colley, A. M. Donnison & J. W. Nagels, 2004. Faecal bacteria yields in artificial flood events: quantifying in-stream stores. Water Research 38: 1215–1224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2003.12.010.
Murphy, S., P. Jordan, P.-E. Mellander & V. O’Flaherty, 2015. Quantifying faecal indicator organism hydrological transfer pathways and phases in agricultural catchments. Science of the Total Environment 520: 286–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.02.017.
Murphy, B. P., E. McCabe, M. Murphy, J. F. Buckley, D. Crowley, S. Fanning & G. Duffy, 2016. Longitudinal study of two Irish dairy herds: low numbers of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 and O26 super-shedders identified. Frontiers in Microbiology 7: 1–8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.01850.
Nagels, J. W., R. J. Davies-Colley, A. M. Donnison & R. W. Muirhead, 2002. Faecal contamination over flood events in a pastoral agricultural stream in New Zealand. Water Science and Technology 45: 45–52.
Nguyen, K. H., C. Senay, S. Young, B. Nayak, A. Lobos, Conrad & V. J. Harwood, 2018. Determination of wild animal sources of fecal indicator bacteria by microbial source tracking (MST) influences regulatory decisions. Water Research 144: 424–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2018.07.034.
O’Callaghan, P., M. Kelly-Quinn, E. Jennings, P. Antunes, M. O’Sullivan & D. ÓhUallacháin, 2019. The environmental impact of cattle access to watercourses: a review. Journal of Environmental Quality 48: 340–351. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2018.04.0167.
O’Mullan, G., A. Juhl, R. Reichert, E. Schneider & N. Martinez, 2019. Patterns of sediment-associated fecal indicator bacteria in an urban estuary: benthic-pelagic coupling and implications for shoreline water quality. Science of the Total Environment 656: 1168–1177. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.405.
O’Sullivan, M., D. ÓhUallacháin, P. O. Antunes, E. Jennings & M. Kelly-Quinn, 2019. The impacts of cattle access points on deposited sediment levels in headwater streams in Ireland. River Research and Applications 35: 146–158. https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3382.
Óhaiseadha, C., P. D. Hynds, U. B. Fallon & J. O’Dwyer, 2016. A geostatistical investigation of agricultural and infrastructural risk factors associated with primary verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) infection in the Republic of Ireland, 2008–2013. Epidemiology and Infection 145: 95–105. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095026881600193X.
Ouattara, N. K., J. Passerat & P. Servais, 2011. Faecal contamination of water and sediment in the rivers of the Scheldt drainage network. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 183: 243–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-1918-9.
Pachepsky, Y. & D. R. Shelton, 2011. Escherichia coli and fecal coliforms in freshwater and estuarine sediments. Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology 41: 1067–1110. https://doi.org/10.1080/10643380903392718.
Pachepsky, Y., M. Stocker, M. O. Saldaña & D. Shelton, 2017. Enrichment of stream water with fecal indicator organisms during baseflow periods. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-016-5763-8.
Paradis, E., J. Claude & K. Strimmer, 2004. APE: Analyses of phylogenetics and evolution in R language. Bioinformatics 20: 289–290.
Perchec-Merien, A. M. & G. D. Lewis, 2012. Naturalized Escherichia coli from New Zealand wetland and stream environments. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 83: 494–503. https://doi.org/10.1111/1574-6941.12010.
Petit, F., O. Clermont, S. Delannoy, P. Servais, M. Gourmelon, P. Fach, K. Oberlé, M. Fournier, E. Denamur & T. Berthe, 2017. Change in the structure of Escherichia coli population and the pattern of virulence genes along a rural aquatic continuum. Frontiers in Microbiology 8: 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2017.00609.
Pinheiro, J., D. Bates, S. DebRoy, & D. Sarkar, R Core Team, 2019. nlme: Linear and Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models. R package version 3.1–149, https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/nlme/index.html.
R Core Team, 2018. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/.
Rice, A. R., R. Cassidy, P. Jordan, D. Rogers & J. Arnscheidt, 2021. Fine-scale quantification of stream bank geomorphic volume loss caused by cattle access. Science of the Total Environment 769: 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.144468.
Riley, W. D., E. C. E. Potter, J. Biggs, A. L. Collins, H. P. Jarvie, J. I. Jones, M. Kelly-Quinn, S. J. Ormerod, D. A. Sear, R. L. Wilby, S. Broadmeadow, C. D. Brown, P. Chanin, G. H. Copp, I. G. Cowx, A. Grogan, D. D. Hornby, D. Hugget & G. M. Siriwardena, 2018. Small water bodies in Great Britain and Ireland: ecosystem function, human-generated degradation, and options for restorative action. Science of the Total Environment 645: 1598–1616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.243.
Sheffield, R.E., Mostaghimi, S., Vaughan, D.H., Collins Jr., E.R. & Allen, V.G., 1997. Off-stream water sources for grazing cattle as stream bank stabilization and water quality BMP. Transactions of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers 40: 595–604. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.21318
Shore, M., P. N. C. Murphy, P. Jordan, P. Mellander, M. Kelly-Quinn, M. Cushen, S. Mechan, O. Shine & A. R. Melland, 2013. Evaluation of a surface hydrological connectivity index in agricultural catchments. Environmental Modelling and Software 47: 7–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.04.003.
Smolders, A., R. J. Rolls, D. Ryder, A. Watkinson & M. Mackenzie, 2015. Cattle-derived microbial input to source water catchments: an experimental assessment of stream crossing modification. Journal of Environmental Management 156: 143–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.03.052.
Sovell, L. A., B. Vondracek, J. A. Frost & K. G. Mumford, 2000. Impacts of rotational grazing and riparian buffers on physicochemical and biological characteristics of Southeastern Minnesota, USA, streams. Environmental Management 26: 629–641. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002670010121.
Teagasc, 2020. Agricultural Catchments Programme. Accessed online on May 28th 2020 at https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/water-quality/agricultural-catchments/catchments/
Tedd, K. 2014. Characterisation of River Allow Catchment. EPA Water Framework Directive Integration and Coordination Unit. Environmental Protection Agency, Dublin.
Trimble, S. W. & A. C. Mendel, 1995. The cow as a geomorphic agent—a critical review. Biogeomorphology, Terrestrial and Freshwater Systems. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-555X(95)00028-4.
Wood, S., 2015. Package ‘mgcv’. R package version, 1, 29. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/mgcv/index.html
Zuur, A., Ieno, E.N., Walker, A. Saveliev & Smith, G., 2009. Mixed Effect Models and Extensions in Ecology with R. Springer, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87458-6
Acknowledgements
This study was part of the project COSAINT – Cattle exclusion from watercourses: environmental and socio-economic implications funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland, under the Research Programme 2014 – 2020. The authors wish to thank Dr Orla Sherlock for guidance on processing and analysis and to the participating farmers and catchment advisors.
Funding
Funding was provided by Environmental Protection Agency (Grant No. 2014-W-LS-6).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
Data availability
The data generated and/or analysed during this study are of either public domain or not publicly available due to the study sites being located on private land; however, these data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code availability
The code used in the statistical analyses and preparation of figures is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Additional information
Handling editor: Sidinei M. Thomaz.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Guest editors: Mary Kelly-Quinn, Jeremy Biggs, J. Iwan Jones & William D. Riley / Small Waterbodies in the Landscape
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Antunes, P.O., ÓhUallacháin, D., Dunne, N. et al. Cattle access to small streams increases concentrations of Escherichia coli in bed sediments. Hydrobiologia 850, 3273–3291 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-05091-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-022-05091-5