Test equipment supplied by Mettler Toledo has been used in the first major survey of aquatic biodiversity and freshwater quality in the Falkland Islands
The project was supported by the Environment, Science and Energy Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and was led by project investigators Roger Flower (University College London), and Philippa Noon (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge).
Entitled the FI-BRIL (Falkland Islands: Biodiversity Research in Lakes) Project, this initial study was designed to define the range of freshwater bodies present, using water quality characteristics such as pH, brown water/clear water, water transparency, salinity and depth.
These measurements, together with the biological information, were used to establish reference base-line information.
The surveys also included selecting two contrasting Falkland Island lakes for sediment coring and for making biological collections of invertebrates and diatom algae.
Roger Flower explains the background to the project: "Freshwater lakes on the Falkland Islands provide a unique biological resource but these aquatic ecosystems were virtually unexplored. There is considerable potential for aquatic habitat evaluation and conservation, however time-space environmental quality criteria are lacking.
One particularly convenient way of detecting environmental change trends in remote locations is to use the historical archive of sub-fossil remains contained in lake sediments.
This can provide information about past changes, past species biodiversity and about the impact of past drivers of environmental change in lakes - pollution, land use and climate." Initial on-site investigations included determination of water acidity and conductivity.
For this, the team used a Mettler Toledo pH meter and electrode designed for low ionic waters and a portable conductivity meter.
Dr Flower said: "The three most basic parameters used to classify freshwaters are pH to determine acidity, conductivity to measure the level of saltiness, and alkalinity to check the carbonates/bicarbonate content.
Establishing some of this information in the field was a fundamental part of the study where we needed to select a good range of sites for one-off sampling.
We needed reliable equipment that we could use in difficult field conditions and the Mettler Toledo equipment performed well.
It was robust and sensitive - and it proved very accurate.
When I compared one of my field measurements with a lab pH meter, (which also happened to be made by Mettler Toledo) at the Agricultural Institute at Port Stanley, the pH values agreed to less than 0.1pH." While the water acidity and conductivity tests were carried out in the field, full chemical analysis was done in the UK.
The sediment cores taken from the two Falkland Island lakes were also returned to the UK for detailed high resolution analysis following radioisotope dating. Commenting on the implications of the work carried out, Dr Flower said: "This work should contribute significantly towards meeting some of the biodiversity obligations imposed on the UK concerning biodiversity of freshwaters in Dependent Territories (cf the Rio Convention on biological diversity).
It will also help identify biological status and nature of environmental change in the lakes.
The results will be published in due course (including a website) and will also be used for a provisional Access database for water chemistry and biological data for the Falkland Island lakes." The equipment used in the water survey is from a range of analytical instruments produced by Mettler Toledo.
The meters are designed to be portable, robust and reliable, so that measurements can be carried out in process plants and production areas - or as in this case in remote locations like the Falkland Islands - as easily and precisely as in the laboratory.
A comprehensive range of electrodes is available for all types of application.
