Identification

Title

2015 Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) Loch nam Madadh Site Condition Monitoring and Site Check survey of marine sedimentary and reef habitats

Abstract

An purpose of this study was to carry out site condition monitoring (SCM) of the sandbanks feature of the Loch nam Madadh SAC and Site Checks of the remaining marine sedimentary and reef protected features (apart from saline lagoons). The principle aims were to: (1) identify any deterioration in the condition of the subtidal sandbanks feature; and (2) to form a judgement on its current condition. SCM was inaugurated in the SAC in 2004, which provided a baseline for the current study. The SCM work largely took the form of an extensive drop-down video survey and infaunal survey of the loch system, together with more detailed surveying of the sandbanks feature along transects at selected maerl bed sites. The site check work principally involved surveying along relocatable transects established at mudflat, reef and tidal rapids locations. A survey of the tidal rapids feature of the Loch an Duin SSSI and the Loch nam Madadh SSSI, both of which overlap with the SAC, was also undertaken.

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

GB-SCT-SNH-CMEU-000292-LM

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326

Additional information source

Moore, C.G., Harries, D.B., Lyndon, A.R., Mair, J.M., Tulbure, K.W., Saunders, G.R, Grieve, R. & Brash, J. 2016. 2015 site condition monitoring and site check surveys of marine sedimentary and reef habitats in the Loch nam Madadh SAC, Loch nam Madadh SSSI and Loch an Duin SSSI. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 923.

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

biota

biota

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2008-01-06

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2009-11-16

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2010-09-18

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2011-02-16

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2011-07-06

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2012-02-14

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2006-08-31

Keyword set

keyword value

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2017-05-12

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-7.2234

East bounding longitude

-7.0826

North bounding latitude

57.6481

South bounding latitude

57.5851

Extent

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2009-06-18

code identifying the extent

Minches & Western Scotland

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2009-05-01

code identifying the extent

44E2

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

1954-01-01

code identifying the extent

Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland

Extent group

authority code

title

reference date

date type

creation

effective date

2014-05-16

code identifying the extent

VIa

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

2015-07-03

End position

2015-08-14

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

Collection of video data was predominantly carried out at sites using a dropdown video system from the vessel RV Serpula. At sites that could not be accessed from the boat, video material was collected from an inflatable using mini drop-down or by diver using a hand-held video camera. In total 73 sites that were examined in the in the 2004 baseline study were revisited during the period 4th-14th July 2015. At each accessible station the drop-down video camera was deployed from a drifting vessel for 2-3minutes, noting time, depths, and precise start and end positions using a dGPS attached to the vessel. Brief notes on substrates and biota were made at each station and entered into a pro forma with the video data. Video material from each station was subsequently processed in the laboratory, where possible employing the SACFOR scale of abundance. Where distinct changes in biotope were apparent at a site (rater than biotope mosaics), the video run was split into segments based on the video time code. The infaunal survey was undertaken at a subset of 20 of the 30 sites examined in the 2004 baseline survey, representative of the range of sublittoral biotopes identified within the SAC. Sites were selected for study during the period 11th-14th July 2015. A single 0.1m2 Van Veen grab sample was collected using the RV Serpula at 14 sites. A subsample of c.150ml sediment was taken from the surface of the grab contents for PSA analysis, and the remaining material sieved on a 1mm mesh screen. Sievings were retained in borax-buffered 5% formalin for further analysis. At the remaining 6 sites, an inflatable was used to deploy divers who collected 20cm sediment cores of diameter 10.3cm at each site. These cores were subsequently pooled and then processed as for the grab samples. At each site one 20cm long core of 5cm diameter was also collected for PSA analysis. Infauna from sievings were sorted, identified, and counted by Fugro EMU Ltd and sediment samples for grain size analysis were dry sieved in the laboratory using a nest of sieves at 0.5phi intervals. Maerl bed surveys were conducted by divers along a belt transect using MNCR phase 2 methodology to derive an overall estimate of live and dead maerl percentage cover. The same 4 maerl beds examined in 2004 were resurveyed in this 2015 survey. At each site 4 replicate core samples in areas of living maerl using a 10.3cm diameter corer to a depth of 20cm. macrobenthic fauna were extracted and analysed as above for grab samples, and an additional 20cm deep sediment core of 5cm diameter was taken for PSA using the above methodology for grab samples. Live and dead maerl cover was also assessed within the transect band using estimates of percentage cover within random 0.25m2 quadrats by two divers at 10 quadrats each. Site check surveys were carried out for mudflats, reefs, and tidal reefs at the same locations established in the 2004 baseline SCM survey. These site check surveys provided a more rapid and less detailed condition assessment between full SCM surveys of these habitat features in the SAC. Material collected from quadrat and dig-over stations at mudflats was retained for identification and quantification in the laboratory using the SACFOR scale. At reef sites, MNCR phase 2 surveying was carried out in all biotope zones identified along relocatable transects. Video and still imagery was collected along the whole transect from the intertidal to subtidal zones as a visual record of the habitats and biota, and included five replicate haphazardly located 0.25m2 photoquadrats within each intertidal zone. At tidal rapid sites the sequence of zones (biotopes) along each transect line were checked against those of the 2004 baseline survey. Still and video imagery were collected along each transect to provide a visual record of conditions and aid biotope assignment, and five replicate 0.25m2 photoquadrats were taken within each biotope zone. At each location an MNCR phase 2 survey was carried out in the most species-rich, tides-wept biotope.

Conformity

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2011-02-02

degree

true

explanation

See the referenced specification

Conformity report

specification

title

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2018-01-23

degree

true

explanation

See the referenced specification

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Not suitable for use in navigation; SNH copyright data which is available for re-use under government licence terms: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Constraint set

Limitations on public access

no restrictions to public access

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

Consultant

organisation name

email address

c.g.moore@hw.ac.uk

responsible party role

originator

Responsible party

contact position

Data Manager

organisation name

Scottish Natural Heritage, Inverness

email address

data_supply@nature.scot

responsible party role

custodian

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

Data Manager

organisation name

Scottish Natural Heritage, Inverness

email address

data_supply@nature.scot

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2018-07-11

Metadata language