Intertidal Monitoring of Tide-swept Boulder Habitat in the Menai Strait and Conwy Bay Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) 2008

The Habitats Directive establishes that the management of Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) should aim to achieve the favourable conservation status of habitat and species features listed within its Annex I and Annex II. For SACs in Wales, the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) is therefore required to report on a regular basis on whether features are in favourable conservation status. Rocky reefs (hard substrata) are of considerable conservation importance due the high diversity of the communities they support and, as such, are included under Annex 1 of the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) (Hill et al. 1998). They are an abundant feature of the UK coastline, especially on western coasts where exposed bedrock predominates. In some areas, the substratum may be composed entirely of bedrock whilst on less steeply shelving / gently shelving shores, large boulders, cobbles, gravel, sand and mud may be present (Hill et al., 1998). Rocky reefs are extremely variable in terms of their structure and the communities they support with reef communities being influenced by the type of rock and the microhabitats available, sediment availability, degree of shelter, shore height, and temperature regime. Communities in exposed areas are usually dominated by sponges, anemones and foliose red algae with ascidians, delicate filamentous algae and fan worms being more common in sheltered areas (JNCC, 2005).

Identifier: NRW_DS112289

Alternative Title

2008 CCW / ASML Menai Strait and Conwy Bay SAC Boulder monitoring Britannia Bridge and Felinheli MRCCW16300000018
Gwaith monitro rhynglanwol ar gynefin clogfeini llanwol yn ACA Y Fenai a Bae Conwy yn 2008

Metadata Language: English

Lineage: The following procedure was employed to compile the species richness of the boulders: a measure of the extent of the underboulder biotope community was attempted with the surveyors hopping in and out of the boat to carry out the survey of extent, boulders were chosen along the same shore height (MLW - MSLW) and within close proximity to each other (where possible), boulders were only selected if they fitted within a 0.5 m x 0.5 m quadrat. These intermediate sized boulders are known to carry the highest diversity, with smaller stones being overturned too often to acquire a stable community whilst larger boulders develop a single-species dominance (Liddiard et al 1989), a GPS point was taken of each boulder, a photograph was taken of the boulder upper surface then a species list taken, The boulder was then turned, photographed and a species list taken from the underside of the boulder. All survey completed by professional and experienced marine field surveyors. Data quality and confidence considered high.

Dataset Reference Date (Publication): 2008-06-06

Temporal Extent

Begin date: 2008-06-01

End date: 2008-06-06

Topic category

Biota

Owner

Natural Resources Wales (NRW)

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

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

Originator

CCW Marine Monitoring Team

Countryside Council for Wales, Maes y Ffynnon, Penrhosgarnedd, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DW

http://naturalresourceswales.gov.uk/splash?orig=/

Originator

Aquatic Survey and Monitoring Ltd (ASML)

Whitfield Brow, Bollihope, Frosterley, Weardale, Co. Durham, DL13 2SZ, England

http://www.marineseen.com/aquatic_survey_and_monitoring.htm

Extent

Geographic Extent: SIR YNYS MON - ISLE OF ANGLESEY

Vertical Extent

Medin Extent Keyword: benthic boundary layer

Format Type and Description

Documents Documents ()

Specification

[A] Digital versions of the contract report: Microsoft Word document(s); and an equivalent Adobe Portable Document Format version. [B] Excel spreadsheets of data - MS and CB 2008 Boulder Data v4.xls. Translations from the above MapInfo Tables are retained in ESRI Shapefile and MapInfo Interchange formats. [C] Marine Recorder file. [D] A series of MapInfo GIS layers in MapInfo Native format (Tables) MSCB_Felinheli_Boulders_2008.Tab [E] Photographs of the site, stations and core contents.

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: The following procedure was employed to compile the species richness of the boulders: a measure of the extent of the underboulder biotope community was attempted with the surveyors hopping in and out of the boat to carry out the survey of extent, boulders were chosen along the same shore height (MLW - MSLW) and within close proximity to each other (where possible), boulders were only selected if they fitted within a 0.5 m x 0.5 m quadrat. These intermediate sized boulders are known to carry the highest diversity, with smaller stones being overturned too often to acquire a stable community whilst larger boulders develop a single-species dominance (Liddiard et al 1989), a GPS point was taken of each boulder, a photograph was taken of the boulder upper surface then a species list taken, The boulder was then turned, photographed and a species list taken from the underside of the boulder. All survey completed by professional and experienced marine field surveyors. Data quality and confidence considered high.

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2008-06-01

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

Keywords

NRW Thesaurus

monitoring (see specific types of monitoring eg. woodland monitoring)
intertidal
under boulder
underboulder
Menai Strait
Menai Strait and Conwy Bay SAC
boulders
bait digging (bait collecting)

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Publication): 2023-12-31

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

Keywords

SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary

Zoobenthos generic abundance
Zoobenthos taxonomy-related counts

Type: Theme

Citation

Date (Revision): 2021-01-06

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

Code: British National Grid (EPSG::27700)

Content Information

NRW Profile

Custom Elements

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 Data may be re-used under the terms of the Open Government Licence providing it is done so, acknowledging both the source and NRW's copyright. It is the recipient's responsibility to ensure the data is fit for the intended purpose.

Metadata

File Identifier: 4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313132323839 XML

Metadata Language: English

Parent Identifier: Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Marine Benthic Species and Habitat Collation Held in Marine Recorder
NRW_DS114501

Resource type: Dataset

Metadata Date: 2024-05-31T09:40:16.305Z

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.

Intertidal Monitoring of Tide-swept Boulder Habitat in the Menai Strait and Conwy Bay Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) 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