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.
- Identification
- Extent
- Distribution
- Quality
- Keywords
- Spatial Reference System
- Content
- Constraints
- Maintenance
- Metadata
Identification
- Identifier
- NRW_DS111815
- Alternative Title
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- Connectivity Maps and GIS
- Metadata Language
- English
- Lineage
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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
Extent
Extent
- Geographic Extent
- Wales (WLS)
))
Vertical Extent
- Medin Extent Keyword
- water column
Distribution
- Format Type and Description
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Geographic Information System
(
)
- Specification
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- 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)
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Geographic Information System
(
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Quality
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
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This dataset has not been assessed for conformance to the referenced INSPIRE regulation.
- Degree
- false
- Lineage
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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
Keywords
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2008-06-01
Keywords
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NRW Thesaurus
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- ecological connectivity
- vulnerability
- marine species
- biotope sensitivity database
- benthic
- marine (maritime)
- marine habitat
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2025-01-08
Keywords
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SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary
- Type
- Theme
Citation
- Date (Publication)
- 2024-06-19
Spatial Reference System
Content
Content Information
NRW Profile
Custom Elements
- NRW Related Title
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Connectivity of marine habitats : identification of vulnerable species
Constraints
Constraints
Limitations on Public Access and Use
- Restriction type
- Other restrictions
Access Constraints Directive
- Limitations
- no limitations
Access Constraints Text
- Other constraints
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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
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© 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
Metadata
- File Identifier
- 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313131383135 XML
- Metadata Language
- English
- Resource type
- Dataset
- Metadata Date
- 2026-03-03T12:40:33.323Z
- Metadata Standard Name
- NRW
- Metadata Standard Version
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1.0