Studies are continuing into land run-off and coastal ecosystem functioning and the subsequent increased turbidity and particle loading in the water column.
To better understand the biogeochemical processes occurring in sandy intertidal sediments, the seasonality in the permeability, pore space characteristics and metabolism of a coarse, sandy site on the Ythan estuary, are being investigated.
In addition, carbon cycling at this site will be further investigated through experimental labelling studies in periods of low and high activity and will hopefully enable us to link these results to other aspects of metabolic activity and functioning in this estuary.