Dr. Brian Kennedy

Research interests

I am a part-time PhD investigation the taxonomy and ecology of freshwater diatom communities in Ireland. I am also a biologist in the Environmental Protection Agency where I use a range of biomonitoring tools, specialising in phytobenthos assessment, for the ecological classification of lakes and rivers for the Water Framework Directive. My PhD research will combine diatom taxonomic diversity and community analysis, ultimately to recommend a parsimonious approach for the applied monitoring of the ecological status of Irish lakes.

PhD Research

Diatoms are a highly diverse algal group and are effective bioindicators that are well established globally for the routine monitoring of aquatic habitats. However, many indicator taxa are known to comprise of species complexes which are often poorly resolved. Diatom complexes in the Irish diatom flora have not been investigated in detail and potentially have increased indicator value for ecological assessment. A primary aim of my research is to explore the morphological diversity of two important yet challenging diatom complexes. I will examine the significance of environmental gradients for structuring diatom communities in lakes of different type and quality. The role of higher resolution classification (i.e. taxonomic sufficiency) will be assessed, with specific reference to oligotrophic lakes as their algal communities are less well documented. This PhD is supervised by Prof. Yvonne Buckley and is supported in part by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Selected publications

Kennedy, B., Buckley, Y. & Allott, N. (submitted) Taxonomy and ecology of small Encyonopsis in Ireland with the description of two new species. Phytotaxa.

Kennedy, B. & Allott, N. (2017) A review of the genus Brachysira in Ireland with the description of Brachysira praegeri and Brachysira conamarae, new raphid diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) from high status waterbodies. Phytotaxa 326: 1-27.

Free, G., Tierney, D., Little, R., Kelly, F., Kennedy, B., Plant, C., Trodd, W., Wynne, C., Caroni, R. & Byrne, C. (2016) Lake Ecological Assessment Metrics in Ireland: Relationships with Phosphorus and Typology Parameters and the Implications for Setting Nutrient Standards." Biology and Environment: Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 116B, no. 3 191-204. doi:10.3318/bioe.2016.18.

Kelly, M., Urbanic, G., Acs, E., Bennion, H., Bertrin, V., Burgess, A., Denys, L., Gottschalk, S., Kahlert, M., Karjalainen, S.M., Kennedy, B., Kosi, G., Marchetto, A., Morin, S., Picinska-Fałtynowicz, J., Poikane, S., Rosebery, J., Schoenfelder, I., Schoenfelder, J., Varbiro, G. (2014) Comparing aspirations: intercalibration of ecological status concepts across European lakes for littoral diatoms. Hydrobiologia 734: 125-141.

Kahlert, M., Kelly, M., Albert, R-L., Almeida, S.F.P., Bešta, T., Blanco, S., Coste, M., Denys, L., Ector, L., Fránková, M., Hlúbiková, D., Ivanov, P., Kennedy, B., Marvan, P., Mertens, A., Miettinen, J., Picinska-Fałtynowicz, J., Rosebery, J., Tornés, E., Vilbaste, S., Vogel, A. (2012) Identification versus counting protocols as sources of uncertainty in diatom-based ecological status assessments. Hydrobiologia 695: 109-124.

Kelly, M.G., Gómez-Rodríguez, C., Kahlert, M., Almeida, S.F.P., Bennett, C., Bottin, M., Delmas, F., Descy, J-P., Dörflinger, G., Kennedy, B., Marvan, P., Opatrilova, L., Pardo, I., Pfister, P., Rosebery, J., Schneider, S., Vilbaste, S. (2012) Establishing expectations for pan-European diatom based ecological status assessments. Ecological Indicators 20: 177-186.