Abstract
Marine habitat mapping is necessary to comply with European legislation (92/43/EEC, 79/409/EEC and 2001/60/EEC), with international obligations to organizations such as ICES and with agreements such as the OSPAR Convention. Clearly defined habitats are needed before conservation and management practices can be implemented. The BIOMÔR, SWISS and HABMAP projects have used sediment particle size, organic matter, organic carbon and nitrogen along with benthic macrofaunal species and abundance to define habitats in the southern Irish Sea. The sea floor of the southern Irish Sea is predominantly sandy gravel, grading down through sand to mud in the deeper parts of the Celtic Sea and similarly in the shallower northern basin beyond Anglesey. The physical gradient in particle size is correlated with organic content and also with biological communities. Nevertheless, there are marked discrepancies between boundaries defined by the Folk sediment characterization trigon, by the chemical characteristics of the sediments and by biological communities. The validity of using continuous physical and chemical sediment characteristics to more accurately predict categorical biological assemblages was tested with use of stepwise backward elimination Binary Logistic Regression (BLR). This method could be used as a tool to predict biological assemblages where there is a paucity of biological data. It lends support to the idea that benthic habitat mapping will have to take more account of biological structuring and system function.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bale, A. J. & A. J. Kenny, 2005. Sediment analysis and seabed characterisation. In Eleftheriou, A. & A. McIntyre (eds), Methods for the Study of Marine Benthos. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford: 43–81.
Boyle, J., 2004. A comparison of two methods for estimating the organic matter content of sediments. Journal of Paleolimnology 31: 125–127.
Buchanan, 1984. Sediment analysis. In Holme, N. A. & A. D. McIntyre (eds), Methods for the Study of Marine Benthos. Blackwell Scientific Publications, London: 41–65.
Clark, K. R. & R. M. Gorley, 2001. Change in Marine Communities: An Approach to Statistical Analysis and Interpretation. PRIMER-E LTD, Plymouth.
Connor, D. W., J. H. Allen, N. Golding, K. L. Howell, L. M. Lieberknecht, K. O. Northern & J. B. Reker, 2004. The Marine Habitat Classification for Britain and Ireland version 04.05. JNCC, Petersborough.
Dobson, M. R., W. E. Evans & K. H. James, 1971. The sediment on the floor of the southern Irish Sea. Marine Geology 11: 27–69.
Ellis, J., T. Ysebaert, T. Hume, A. Norkko, T. Bult, P. Herman, S. Thrush & J. Oldman, 2006. Predicting macrofaunal species distributions in estuarine gradients using logistic regression and classification systems. Marine Ecology Progress Series 316: 69–83.
European Environment Agency, 2004. EUNIS (European Nature Information System) Habitat Classification. Available: http://eunis.eea.eu.int/habitats.jsp (February 2007).
Folk, R. L., 1954. The distinction between grain size and mineral composition in sedimentary-rock nomenclature. Journal of Geology 62: 344–359.
Gray, J. S., 1974. Animal-sediment relationships. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 12: 223–261.
Jeffrey, D. W. & J. G. Wilson, 1985. A Manual for the Estimation of Estuarine Quality. National Board for Science and Technology, Dublin.
Joint Nature Conservation Committee. 2007. MESH (Mapping European Seabed Habitats). Available: http://www.search mesh.net/(February 2007).
Jones, N. S., 1950. Marine bottom communities. Biological Reviews 25: 283–313.
Kenny, A. J., I. Cato, M. Desprez, G. Fader, R. T. E. Schuttenhelm & J. Side, 2003. An overview of seabed-mapping technologies in the context of marine habitat classification. ICES Journal of Marine Science 60: 411–418.
Mackie, A. S. Y., 1990. Offshore benthic communities of the Irish Sea. In Irish Sea Study Group (ed.), The Irish Sea: An Environmental Review. Part 1. Nature conservation. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool: 169–218.
Mackie, A. S. Y., 2004. Macrofaunal assemblages and their sedimentary habitats: working toward a better understanding. In Davies, H. (ed.), Irish Sea Sediments, University of Liverpool, 21st October 2004. Irish Sea Forum Seminar 32: 30–38.
Mackie, A. S. Y., P. G. Oliver & E. I. S. Rees, 1995. Benthic biodiversity in the southern Irish Sea. Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Systematics from the National Museum of Wales. BIOMÔR Reports 1. 1–263.
Mackie, A. S. Y., C. Parmiter, & L. K. Y. Tong, 1997. Distribution and diversity of Polychaeta in the southern Irish Sea. In Reish, D. J. & P. Y. Qian (eds), Proceedings of the Fifth International Polychaete Conference, Qingdao, China 1995. Bulletin of Marine Science 60: 467–481.
Mackie, A. S. Y., J. W. C. James, E. I. S. Rees, T. Darbyshire, S. L. Philpott, K. Mortimer, G. O. Jenkins & A. Morando, 2006. The Outer Bristol Channel Marine Habitat Study. BIOMÔR Reports 4: 1–249 pp. & Appendix A1–A228.
Olenin, S. & J.-P. Ducrotoy, 2006. The concept of biotope in marine ecology and coastal management. Marine Pollution Bulletin 53: 20–29.
Peterson, C. G. J., 1913. Valuation of the sea. II. The animal communities of the sea bottom and their importance for marine zoogeography. Report of the Danish Biological Station 16: 229–311.
Rhoads, D. C., 1974. Organism-sediment relations on the muddy sea floor. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 12: 263–300.
Roff, J. C. & M. E. Taylor, 2000. National frameworks for marine conservation — a hierarchical geophysical approach. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 10: 209–223.
Roff, J. C. & S. M. J. Evans, 2002. Frameworks for marine conservation-non-hierarchical approaches and distinctive habitats. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 12: 635–648.
Roff, J. C., M. E. Taylor & J. Laughren, 2003. Geophysical approaches to the classification, delineation and monitoring of marine habitats and their communities. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 13: 77–90.
Snelgrove, P. V. R. & C. A. Butman, 1994. Animal-sediment relationships revisited: cause versus effect. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review 32: 111–177.
Thorson, G., 1957. Bottom communities (sublittoral or shallow shelf). Memorandum of the Geographical Society of America 67: 461–534.
Thrush, S. F., J. E. Hewitt, A. Norkko, P. E. Nicholls, G. A. Funnell & J. I. Ellis, 2003. Habitat change in estuaries: predicting broad-scale responses of intertidal macrofauna to sediment mud content. Marine Ecology Progress Series 263: 101–112.
Verardo, D. J., P. N. Froelich & A. McIntyre, 1990. Determination of organic carbon and nitrogen in marine sediments using the Carlo Erba NA-1500 Analyser. Deep-Sea Research 37: 157–165.
Vincent, M. A., S. M. Atkins, C. M. Lumb, N. Golding, L. M. Lieberknecht & M. Webster, 2004. Marine nature conservation and sustainable development—the Irish sea pilot. Report to Defra by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough.
Wilson, J. G., A. S. Y. Mackie, B. D. S. O’Connor, E. I. S. Rees & T. Darbyshire, 2001. Benthic Biodiversity in the Southern Irish Sea 2: the South-West Irish Sea Survey. Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Systematics from the National Museum of Wales. BIOMÔR Reports 2: 1–143.
Ysebaert, T., P. Meire, P. M. J. Herman & H. Verbeek, 2002. Macrobenthic species response surfaces along estuarine gradients: prediction by logistic regression. Marine Ecology Progress Series 225: 79–95.
Zacharias, M. A. & J. C. Roff, 2000. A Hierarchical Ecological Approach to Conserving Marine Biodiversity. Conservation Biology 14: 1327–1334.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
McBreen, F., Wilson, J.G., Mackie, A.S.Y., Aonghusa, C.N. (2008). Seabed mapping in the southern Irish Sea: predicting benthic biological communities based on sediment characteristics. In: Davenport, J., et al. Challenges to Marine Ecosystems. Developments in Hydrobiology, vol 202. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8808-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8808-7_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8807-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8808-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)