Document of dataset 6193

Dataset record

Type

Dataset

title in English

Abundance and biomass of benthic infauna from mud grabs in the Irish sea as part of a mud habitat project from 2014-2015

Description in English

"This dataset contains information on infaunal abundance and biomass from sediment grabs from the Western Irish Sea in an area known as Queenie corner (a proposed Marine Conservation zone, MCZ). The target habitat was subtidal mud (145km2) and there were two habitats of conservation interest within the broad scale subtidal mud habitat. • Mud habitats in deep water which are characterised by burrowing megafauna • Sea pen & burrowing megafauna communities which are characterised by the presence of one or more sea pen (several species) and are usually deeper than 20m. The key aim of this project and also this survey was to assess the presence, extent and the condition of subtidal mud habitats and communities at Queenie corner in the Western Irish Sea. The survey was carried out on the RV Corystes using a 0.1m2 day grab, the methodology is detailed below: • A 0.1m2 day grab was used to take a sample of the sediment & associated infaunal communities. • When the sample reaches the deck, a 250ml sample is taken for PSA and a further 25ml is taken for C & N analysis. The rest of the sample is carefully sieved to reveal any infauna. • Fixed Formalin (4% buffered formaldehyde) is added to the remains of the sample and these are placed in labelled buckets. • The samples are sent to accredited taxonomic laboratories were they are identified to as high a level as possible and weighed. Underwater video tows were also used in the larger project (the data are not present in this dataset) to investigate the presence and abundance of nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus) which are of extremely high commercial value to the local communities and economy. This involved the use of an underwater camera on a towed sledge with a GoPro attached and using an ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic tracking device for positional data. This video footage is then reviewed twice by experienced marine biologists to ensure a high quality of data. "

Abstract in English

This dataset contains information on infaunal abundance and biomass from sediment grabs from the Western Irish Sea collected in 2014 and 2015 from the RV Corystes. This survey was carried out to assess the presence, extent and the condition of subtidal mud habitats in the Western Irish Sea. A 0.1m2 day grab was used to obtain the sediment and infaunal samples. In total there were 85 grab samples taken and this was also supplemented with underwater video tows of the area for nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus) but this information is not included in this dataset. Particle Size analysis (PSA) of the sediment was also carried out along with Carbon & Nitrogen (C & N) analysis. The most abundant species found was the Bivalve Abra alba and the most frequently recorded species was the Bivalve Abra nitida.

Contactpoint

Email

dassh.enquiries@MBA.ac.uk

License

https://spdx.org/licenses/CC-BY-4.0.html

bibliographicCitation

Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) (2019): Abundance and biomass of benthic infauna from mud grabs in the Irish sea as part of a mud habitat project from 2014-2015. v2.3. Marine Biological Association. Dataset/Samplingevent

Release date

Sep 10 2020 12:00AM