Muddring i Ireån : indirekta effekter på bottenfaunan nedströms

This research aims to investigate the effects that dredging may have on benthic fauna. The dredging took place in the stream Ireån on northern Gotland during the early summer 2010. My area of research was taking place in a scenic area downstream in Ireån close to the Baltic Sea. I chose this area due to the dredging that started just upstream of this area and continued further upstream. Thus it is not the direct impact of the dredging that is the focus for this paper but the side-effect the dredging may have on the area downstream. In this research I used the M42-method and BQI- index in order to evaluate the results. The effects on the dredging were weaker than expected, with only minor changes occurring within the benthic fauna (BQI-value before dredging: 3.35, BQI-value after dredging: 3.51)