Goals
The ‘Encoro do Con’ Hydrobiology Station is located on the banks of the O Con reservoir, in Castroagudín (Cea), in the municipality of Vilagarcía de Arousa. This centre aims to be a bridge in the cooperation between management bodies and research bodies, where opinions based on an adequate knowledge of natural aquatic ecosystems are provided.
EHEC facilities
The station has an analysis laboratory and a ‘wet’ laboratory, equipped with aquariums and two artificial rivers, pumping, filtering and temperature regulation systems for the aquariums, freezers and a workshop for the development of research equipment.
The centre has everything necessary to allow visiting researchers to live at the EHEC while they do their work, thus eliminating the disruption caused by the search for accommodation during their stays - of varying lengths. The accommodation area has space for 14 researchers in four bedrooms, a common room (with TV, video-dvd system, etc.), and a complete kitchen with pantry and electrical appliances. There is also a laundry with washing machine and dryer.
Waders and high boots of various sizes are available to carry out all the sampling. In order to carry out fish sampling, there are two electric fishing devices to be carried on the back and a bank device with the capacity to simultaneously use three poles, as well as nets of various types and sizes (trammel nets, @butrons, seines...). This is complemented by self-protection equipment, brailers, watertight boxes and aeration equipment to keep the fish stabled, scales, ichthyometers, etc.
For macroinvertebrate sampling, there are Surber type benthic nets (various sizes), Neil cylinders, kicknets, entomological sleeves, corer, and UV light traps.
Two Van Dorn bottles and two plankton nets are available for plankton sampling.
To characterise the river habitat, an echo sounder depth gauge, tape measures, rangefinders, current meters, underwater viewfinders, a grid frame, a gravel meter, dredges of different types, a mirror densimeter, etc. are available, as well as multi-parametric probes (pH, temperature, conductivity, TDS, dissolved oxygen) and a Trimble GPS.
As support material, the EHEC has an inflatable work tent, two portable power generators and isothermal and electric coolers. Digital and underwater video and photographic cameras are also available.
The EHEC also has the necessary equipment for tagging and monitoring fish with PIT tags, FLOY tags and fluorescent elastomer tags, as well as transmitters (Implant transmitter and External transmitter), receivers and antennas for monitoring by radio telemetry.
The EHEC has optical material and complete equipment for physico-chemical and bacteriological water analysis. The microscopy laboratory is equipped with Nikon equipment and has stereomicroscopes of three different models and two microscopes, one of them inverted. They are complemented by an image analyser with a 12 Mpx resolution digital camera with biometry software. In addition, there is a paraffin embedding system and a Leica rotation microtome for histological analysis.
Equipment for physicochemical and bacteriological analysis includes precision balances, a wet sieve column, muffle furnace, fume hoods, thermoagitators and mechanical shakers, two dessert centrifuges, ultrapure water system; spectrophotometers (cuvette and microplate), a Nano-Drop micro-spectrophotometer; a Qubit 2. 0 fluorometer; several sets of Eppendorf pipettes, turbidimeter, benchtop pH and conductivity meters, desiccation and culture ovens, water filtration ramp, thermoreactor, autoclave, etc.
For the preservation of samples, the EHEC has refrigerators, large capacity freezers, liquid nitrogen cryopreservation and a New Brunswick -85 °C deep freezer.
The wet lab has 21 separate aquariums and two artificial rivers that can be fed by a refrigerated closed circuit or by an open circulation system. In addition, an industrial water cooler and four portable aquarium coolers are available.
The centre has a fully equipped computer room with printers, scanners and computers with up-to-date software for text and image editing, statistical processing, geographic information, etc. and internet connection.
In addition, the EHEC has a large scientific library on different aspects of the biology and ecology of inland aquatic environments.
Activities and services
In its scientific activity, the station works on aspects of basic research, on aquatic invertebrates and migratory fish, and on applied research, in everything related to the control and assessment of pollution in continental aquatic environments.
The EHEC's priority goal is to promote research into the fauna of freshwater fish, dealing with issues as diverse as inventories and mapping, faunistic and autoecological studies of the species of important groups of aquatic invertebrates, the study of the structure and temporal evolution of fish populations, the biological quality of the water, progress in habitat restoration and the impacts of biological invasions.
In terms of applied aspects, the improvement of the methodology for characterising the biological quality of epicontinental waters (biotic indices, teratological analyses, toxicity tests, impact assessment, etc.), which enable improved management of resources, making social demand for water and the conservation of ecosystems compatible.
- Potability analysis.
- Waste water analysis
- Toxic element content.
- Microbiological analysis
- Calculation of chemical pollution indices
- Granulometric analysis.
- Determination of organic matter
- Toxic element content
- Quality indices of spawning grounds.
- Identification of taxa.
- Calculation of biotic indices
- Diatom indices.
- Electric fishing.
- Recreational fishing exploitation plans.
- Ichthyopathology.
- Assessment of pollutant impacts.
- Establishment of the ecological status of wetlands and rivers according to the European Water Framework Directive.
- Expert reports on ecological crime.
- Ecological damage assessment.
- Biochemical contamination markers.
- Analysis of morphological response to contamination.
- Assessment and control of invasive species
- Flow measurement.
- River habitat assessment.
- River restoration.
Teaching
The teaching activity covers the practical training of university students, the development of courses and master's degrees in direct contact with the aquatic environment; environmental education at non-university levels.
Quality
In 2009 the ‘Encoro do Con’ Hydrobiology Station of the USC (EHEC) obtained, through an external certification process by the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management), the ‘Seal of Commitment to European Excellence 200+’ for its management system.
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