Edinburgh Napier University

  Urban drainage ponds commonly have high methane production,
leading to local emissions. Dissolved methane may also act as a
carbon source for local food webs, through bacterial methane
oxidation, as has been found in other freshwaters, notably deep
lakes. Using the characteristic stable carbon isotope signature of
methane-derived carbon, the study aims to establish the extent of
and variation in incorporation of this carbon source into a key
invertebrate group (chironomid fly larvae) and through the food
chain into aquatic beetle predators. Chironomid adults are terrestrial
and hence the methane-derived carbon that they contain may also be
exported to riparian ecosystems when they emerge. This will also
be established through sampling of riparian spider predators.