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Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (CBESS) macrofaunal abundance in mudflat and saltmarsh habitats

The dataset details macrofaunal abundance across 6 intertidal sites in the winter and summer of 2013. The data provide a quantitative measure of the invertebrate species present within the top 10cm of sediment. Three sites were located in Essex, South East England and the other 3 in Morecambe Bay, North West England. Each site consisted of a saltmarsh habitat and adjacent mudflat habitat. 22 sampling quadrats were placed in each habitat covering 4 spatial scales. 3 replicate cores of sediment were collected at each quadrat. They were sieved on a 0.5mm mesh and the macrofauna was removed, identified to species (or appropriate taxon) and individuals counted. Values for macrofaunal abundance are expressed as number of individuals per square metre of sediment.

Abundance data for mudflat habitats across Essex and Morecambe are complete, however, saltmarsh data is only available for one full Essex site (Tillingham Marsh), in one season (winter) and across all sites, but only at the 1m scale.

This data was collected as part of Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (CBESS): NE/J015644/1. The project was funded with support from the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (BESS) programme. BESS is a six-year programme (2011-2017) funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) as part of the UK's Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) programme.

Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/d5317679-449f-4829-9caf-39973fe27c07

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Identification info

Metadata Language
English (en)
Character set
utf8
Dataset Reference Date ()
2015-12-31
Dataset Reference Date ()
2013-08-01
Identifier
https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/d5317679-449f-4829-9caf-39973fe27c07
Identifier
doi: / 10.5285/d5317679-449f-4829-9caf-39973fe27c07
Other citation details
Wood, C.L., Hawkins, S.J., Godbold, J.A., Solan, M. (2015). Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (CBESS) macrofaunal abundance in mudflat and saltmarsh habitats. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre 10.5285/d5317679-449f-4829-9caf-39973fe27c07
  University of Southampton - Professor Martin Solan
  University of Southampton - Wood, C.L.
  University of Southampton - Hawkins, S.J.
  University of Southampton - Godbold, J.A.
  University of Southampton - Solan, M.
  NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
  University of Southampton
Maintenance and update frequency
notPlanned
Maintenance note
Dataset is complete
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 ()
  • Habitats and Biotopes
Wikidata
  • Eteone longa
  • Pygospio elegans
  • Abra tenuis
  • Peringia ulvae
  • Corophium arenarium
  • Corophium volutator
  • Hediste diversicolor
GeoNames
  • Morecambe Bay
  • Essex
Keywords
  • BESS
  • CBESS
  • macrofauna
  • abundance
  • biodiversity
  • mudflat
  • salt marsh
  • sediment
  • benthic
  • intertidal
  • season
  • spatial scale
  • species
  • Macona balthica
Limitations on Public Access
otherRestrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
otherRestrictions
Other constraints
This resource is made available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Use constraints
otherRestrictions
Other constraints
© University of Southampton
Use constraints
otherRestrictions
Other constraints
If you reuse this data, you should cite: Wood, C.L., Hawkins, S.J., Godbold, J.A., Solan, M. (2015). Coastal Biodiversity and Ecosystem Service Sustainability (CBESS) macrofaunal abundance in mudflat and saltmarsh habitats. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/d5317679-449f-4829-9caf-39973fe27c07
Spatial representation type
textTable
Topic category
  • Oceans
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Begin date
2013-01-01
End date
2013-08-01
 
Code
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid

Distribution Information

Data format
  • Comma-separated values (CSV) ()

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Supporting information

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Quality Scope
dataset
Other
dataset

Report

Dataset Reference Date ()
2010-12-08
Statement

The location of the sample sites was determined by randomly allocated quadrats. Twenty two 1 x 1 m quadrats were randomly allocated to each mudflat and saltmarsh site using R (R Development Core Team, 2014) to specify four different spatial scales (A = 1 quadrat only, B = 3 quadrats at 1 m to 10 m apart, C = 6 quadrats at 10 m to 100 m apart, D = 12 quadrats at 100 m to 1000 m or site maximum).

3 cylindrical cores of sediment (10cm depth and diameter) were taken at each quadrat and fixed in 4 percent buffered formalin in seawater. The cores were then sieved on a 0.5mm mesh and the residue retained and preserved in 70 percent Industrial Methylated Spirit (IMS). Using a stereo microscope, all the animals were picked out of the residue, identified to species level (or appropriate taxon) and stored in vials containing 70 percent IMS. The individual numbers of each taxa were counted to give abundance data. This was determined by the presence of a head in cases where specimens had been damaged (any badly damaged specimens or parts of specimens where no head was present were separated into major group debris (annelid, mollusc and crustacea) pots and their presence noted as YES/NO for abundance). The data were then multiplied by 127.323955 and rounded to the nearest whole individual to give results in metre squared.

Metadata

File identifier
d5317679-449f-4829-9caf-39973fe27c07 XML
Metadata Language
English (en)
Character set
ISO/IEC 8859-1 (also known as Latin 1)
Resource type
dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Metadata Date
2022-05-20T10:41:22
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version
2.3
  Environmental Information Data Centre
Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg , Lancaster , LA1 4AP , UK
 
 

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