6.4 Connecting local and global scales
The research questions prompting the initiation of the Girnock study
were place-based, pertaining to the monitoring of a single site, even if
the site was considered more broadly indicative of spring salmon
habitats. Nevertheless, the process-based understanding is transferable
and this has informed international scientific studies, as well as
management. Likewise, the organic evolution of the research agenda as
largely been driven by emerging local questions arising from
observational science that have led to a more interdisciplinary approach
linking salmon research to the wider environmental sciences. In other
salmon streams around the world, local insights in understanding the
salmon life cycle and its environmental controls have resulted in
comparable time series, though very few have such a wider understanding
of the catchment context. Likewise, environmental observatories without
a specific salmon focus have been seeking similar functional
understanding of catchment hydrology and biogeochemistry that the
Girnock/Bruntland studies have, though in-stream the ecological
implications are generally less well-covered. Thus, the Girnock occupies
a unique position in a number of monitoring sites such as Burrishoole in
Ireland (McGinnity et al., 2004) and Catamaran Brook in Canada (Cunjak
et al., 2013) that allow intercomparison studies to leverage broader
relevance to generic environmental and ecosystem conservation concerns
that are truly global.