Connectivity of Marine Habitats - A Review of Vulnerable Species (1960 - 2008)

The ‘connectivity’ of marine benthic organisms is important as it has potential implications for designation and management of MPAs and is also likely to feed into work on the management of the wider environment through Marine Planning, which will be developed in Welsh waters in the near future. Connectivity is defined here as the exchange of sufficient organisms via dispersal and movement to sustain populations. Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) contracted Marine Ecological Solutions Ltd. (Marine EcoSol) to undertake the first stages of analysis, primarily to review species that may be vulnerable to low connectivity, or fragmentation, in Welsh waters. The vulnerability to connectivity project (presented in the current report) aimed to identify marine invertebrates, macroalgae, plants and small territorial fish which are theoretically vulnerable to low connectivity and fragmentation, and flag those that might need to be carefully considered when managing the marine environment around Wales. This dataset contains the results of the 'vulnerability to connectivity project', a five staged review of existing information which highlighted species that may be vulnerable to poor connectivity, or fragmentation in Welsh Waters based on information easily available in 2009. Connectivity is now generally recognised as an important criterion in the design of networks of Marine Protected Areas. Historical data was reviewed up to November 2008, with the earliest data point recorded in 1960.

Identifier: NRW_DS111815

Alternative Title

Y Cysylltiad rhwng Cynefinoedd Morol - nodi rhywogaethau
Connectivity Maps and GIS

Metadata Language: English

Lineage: Of over 400 taxa originally considered for assessment, only 192 had sufficient information for full biological assessment. Species' vulnerability was assessed based on their biological characteristics and was approached in four stages: - A review of information available for each species (from BIOTIC URL and the scientific literature) - Development of a method of scoring many species' theoretical 'intrinsic', or biological connectivity - Assessment of each species' specific habitat preference and the availability of this habitat in Wales - Assessment of species' perceived sensitivity to anthropogenic impacts and environmental change. Confidence in data is high however when interpreting the results, the assumptions made by the methods must be considered. Another consideration is the difficulty in identifying the species of interest; some species may be under-recorded due to mis-identifications or lack of observations. In addition, it is extremely important to remember that this project did not assess all benthic species found in Welsh waters but only those for which sufficient data was available.

Dataset Reference Date (Publication): 2010-01-31

Temporal Extent

Begin date: 1960-06-06

End date: 2008-11-30

Topic category

Biota

Owner

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

Monkstone House, City Road, Peterborough, PE1 1JY, England

http://www.jncc.gov.uk/

Owner

Natural Resources Wales (NRW)

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Originator

Marine Ecological Solutions Ltd

Marine Ecological Solutions Ltd, 41 High Street, Menai Bridge, Ynys Mon, LL59 5EF, Wales

http://www.marine-ecosol.co.uk

Extent

Geographic Extent: Wales (WLS)

Vertical Extent

Medin Extent Keyword: benthic boundary layer; water column

Format Type and Description

Geographic Information System ()

Specification

- MapInfo tables ( Wales_Outline2.TAB, Wales_Outline_12nm_buffer2.TAB, Grid3.TAB, Alkmaria_romijni_Wales12nm.TAB, Atrina_fragilis_Wales12nm.TAB, Axinella_dissimilis_Wales12nm.TAB, Eunicella_verrucosa_Wales12nm.TAB, Eunicella verrucosa in Wales12nm wout Strait.TAB, Gammarus_insensibilis_Wales12nm.TAB, Lithothamnion_cor_Wales12nm.TAB, Lithothamnion_glaciale_Wales12n.TAB, Musculus_discors_Wales12nm.TAB, Phymatolithon_calcareum_Wales12.TAB, Truncatella_subcylindrica_Wales.TAB - Bitmaps - Final report (.doc and .pdf)

Data quality

Quality Scope: Dataset

Conformity: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
Explanation
Degree: false

Lineage: Of over 400 taxa originally considered for assessment, only 192 had sufficient information for full biological assessment. Species' vulnerability was assessed based on their biological characteristics and was approached in four stages: - A review of information available for each species (from BIOTIC URL and the scientific literature) - Development of a method of scoring many species' theoretical 'intrinsic', or biological connectivity - Assessment of each species' specific habitat preference and the availability of this habitat in Wales - Assessment of species' perceived sensitivity to anthropogenic impacts and environmental change. Confidence in data is high however when interpreting the results, the assumptions made by the methods must be considered. Another consideration is the difficulty in identifying the species of interest; some species may be under-recorded due to mis-identifications or lack of observations. In addition, it is extremely important to remember that this project did not assess all benthic species found in Welsh waters but only those for which sufficient data was available.

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Species distribution

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2008-06-01

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.httpinspireeceuropaeutheme-theme

Keywords

NRW Thesaurus

ecological connectivity
sensitivity
marine habitat
marine species
marine (maritime)
benthic
vulnerability

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2023-12-31

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.local.theme.converted_nrw-keywords

Keywords

SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary

Habitat characterisation
Zoobenthos generic abundance

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Revision): 2021-01-06

Code: geonetwork.thesaurus.external.theme.rdf+xml

Code: Latitude and Longitude (EPSG::4326)

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

NRW Related Title: Connectivity of marine habitats : identification of vulnerable species

Constraints

Limitations on Public Access and Use

Restriction type: Other restrictions

Access Constraints Directive

Limitations: no limitations

Access Constraints Text

Other constraints: There are no access restrictions to this data. NRW may release, publish or disseminate it freely.

Use Constraints

Use constraints type: Other restrictions

Other constraints: © CNC/NRW 2010 There are no use restrictions on this data. Recipients may re-use, reproduce, disseminate this data free of charge in any format or medium, provided they do so accurately, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright, and do not use it in a misleading context. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose, that dissemination or publishing does not result in duplication, and that it is fairly interpreted. Advice on interpretation should be sought where required. To avoid re-using old data, users should periodically obtain the latest version from the original source.

Metadata

File Identifier: 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313131383135 XML

Metadata Language: English

Resource type: Dataset

Metadata Date: 2024-05-31T09:38:36.45Z

Metadata Standard Name: NRW

Metadata Standard Version: 1.0

pointOfContact

Natural Resources Wales (NRW)

Maes-y-Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW, Wales

http://naturalresources.wales/?lang=en

Publishing Body

Access the portal

Full access to the portal and metadata.

Connectivity of Marine Habitats - A Review of Vulnerable Species (1960 - 2008)

Identification

Temporal Extent

Extent

Extent

Vertical Extent

Distribution

Quality

Data quality

Keywords

Keywords

Citation

Keywords

Citation

Keywords

Citation

Spatial Reference System

Content

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

Constraints

Constraints

Limitations on Public Access and Use

Access Constraints Directive

Access Constraints Text

Use Constraints

Metadata

Metadata

Publishing Body