The classification of benthic estuarine communities for nature conservation assessments in Great Britain
Laffoley, D.; Hiscock, K. (1993). The classification of benthic estuarine communities for nature conservation assessments in Great Britain. Neth. J. Aquat. Ecol. 27(2-4): 181-187. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02334781
In: Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology. Kluwer Academic Publishers/Netherlands Society of Aquatic Ecology: Bilthoven. ISSN 1380-8427; e-ISSN 2214-7098, more
Also appears in:Meire, P.; Vincx, M. (Ed.) (1993). Marine and estuarine gradients: ECSA 21: Proceedings of the 21st symposium of the Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association held in Gent, 9-14 september 1991. Netherlands Journal of Aquatic Ecology, 27(2-4). Netherlands Society of Aquatic Ecology: Bilthoven. 496 pp., more
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| Keywords |
Marine/Coastal; Brackish water |
| Authors | | Top |
- Laffoley, D.
- Hiscock, K., more
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| Abstract |
In developing a strategy tor the nature conservation of estuaries in Britain, the safeguarding of habitats is considered the best approach. The selection of marine sites tor nature conservation involves the description of the physical habitat and its biota on a comparable basis followed by the selection of sites, using standard criteria. These sites should represent the national series of key marine conservation areas. Description of marine habitats and communities is being undertaken as a part of the Marine Nature Conservation Review (MNCR). The Review has developed a structure and a procedure for the classification of benthic marine habitats and communities which will enable the production of a classification of marine and estuarine communities over the next few years and thus the basis for cataloguing, mapping and com- paring the biotic characteristics of sites and areas. At an early stage in the development of the MNCR classification system, another NCC initiative, the Estuaries Review, required the production of a list of estuarine communities so that their distribution in Great Britain could be mapped and their nature conservation significance assessed. The Estuaries Review described the distribution and abundance of 33 major aquatic estuarine communities or community groupings on 102 sites distributed throughout Great Britain. In this paper, we present the Estuaries Review classification modified to reflect recent progress by the MNCR. The classification will be added to and refined by the MNCR as more estuarine survey work is completed. |
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