Northern freshwaters have become browner over the last decades. Water browning is especially associated with an increase in the concentration of dissolved organic matter/carbon and iron. Browning has been suspected to be caused by a combination of land use and land cover changes, acid recovery and climate change. However, natural disturbances such as beaver-induced floods may also contribute to brownification. It is crucial to understand the processes that might lead to browning at the catchment scale. The ecological consequences of browning are therefore gaining more attention and they should be considered in conservation and management practices. This project (i) investigates the relationship between browning and catchment characteristics, including beaver activity, forestry practices, and land cover parameters; (ii) examine the effects of browning on population of monitored species, specifically aquatic invertebrates and amphibians; (iii) develop GIS solutions to monitor the impact of forestry practices on water color.