Introducing the MARS Project: a short documentary

The MARS project has now been running for well over a year, and many of the project experiments are beginning to yield results.  Today we’re happy to share a short new documentary about the project, which you can watch above.

The film explains the problems posed by multiple stresses such as nutrient pollution and climate change on freshwater ecosystems, and the ways in which the MARS project is implementing innovative scientific research to better understand and manage their effects.

The new documentary features interviews with MARS scientists Anne Lyche Solheim from NIVA in Norway and Steve Ormerod from Cardiff University in Wales, and Anders Iversen, Water Framework Directive Co-ordinator at the Norwegian Environment Protection Agency.  It shows fascinating new footage of MARS stream experiments in the Austrian Alps, and deep lake experiments at the IGB LakeLab research station on Lake Stechlin in Northern Germany.

The piece was predominantly filmed on two heavily stressed and modified rivers: the Emscher in Germany and the Calder in West Yorkshire, England.  Additional footage was shot on the upland River Hodder in Lancashire, England.  The footage of the underwater char was shot by Jack Perks (who we’ve featured on the blog before), and the footage of the blue-green algal bloom was filmed by Scott Nelson (whose Rivière des chutes film will be featured here soon).

We hope you enjoy the film.