To standardise the understanding and application of sampling protocols between participants. To undertake replicate sampling programmes in order to quantify, compare and intercalibrate sampling variation in each form of macroinvertebrate and diatom sampling method applied in the project.
Sampling workshops will be held in conjunction with full project meetings in early April and September of the first calendar year in which fieldwork will be conducted. In order to achieve the first objective, sampling will take place at two sites conveniently close to the venue of the Project Meeting. These will not be sites sampled in Workpackages 7 or 8.
All macroinvertebrate sampling methods used in the project plus the selected diatom sampling method will each be demonstrated at each site. All participating scientific and applied consortium members will participate in the training exercise. The trainers will be the national experts in the use of each technique and all participants at the Project Meeting will be obliged to learn and demonstrate their proficiency in all techniques in all sites. Any points of difference in the application of techniques will be resolved and documented. The training sessions will be used to demonstrate the strategy for the following day's replicate sampling exercise.
In order to achieve the second objective, replicate macroinvertebrate samples will be collected. Sites will be chosen to cover a range of environmental characteristics and degrees of ecological stress. Separate sets of sites in two geographically contrasting Member States will be chosen to coincide with the April and September meeting venues. Replicate diatom samples will only be collected in spring, in line with the sampling programme in Workpackages 7 and 8.
The venue of the spring meeting will be in France in order to ensure adequate diatom growth in April. The venue for the September meeting will be in the United Kingdom.
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