Skip to Content

Resource hub

Recommendations for Intertidal Biodiversity Surveillance 2009

Abstract

Surveillance and monitoring, particularly in the marine environment, are essential to meet both UK and international targets of halting the loss of biodiversity. To achieve this goal, effective surveillance strategies need to be implemented. The aims of this project were to provide recommendations for surveillance of intertidal marine biodiversity to enable progress to meet UK and EU targets of reversing declines in biodiversity by 2010 to be measured.

In particular, this project identified intertidal species that are likely to respond to environmental change and therefore could act as potential indicator species for change to the community as a whole; provided bioclimatic models to predict species range shifts in response to global climate change; recommended scales at which intertidal surveillance programmes need to be undertaken to meet best- and worst-case scenarios for survey design; and identified locations, at a variety of scales, in which surveillance monitoring of the rocky intertidal could be undertaken.

The intertidal zone was specifically chosen for this project as considerable amounts of quantitative and semi-quantitative time-series data, collected over a fifty-year period and covering much of the UK, has been collated, enabling re-survey as part of the recently completed Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change (MarClim) project. The rocky intertidal environment is also an ideal system in which to undertake this pilot project as it is the most studied of marine habitats due to ease of access, most of the organisms being either sedentary or sessile, resulting in a good understanding of the biology and ecology of the species.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2009·01·01

Citation
Burrows, M., Moore, P. & Hawkins, S. 2009. Recommendations for Intertidal Biodiversity Surveillance, JNCC Report No. 396, JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091.

Lineage
The aim of this pilot project was to provide recommendations for surveillance in the intertidal zone.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC publisher

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2021·01·05

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

Back to top