Plymouth Sound and Estuaries cSAC Sediment Monitoring Trials 1998-1999 dataset https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=010_6390dc7f76f0419db6ef4f43ac6a7761 1. To provide a demonstration of setting up a condition monitoring programme including selection of attributes and locations, sampling design, replication and repeatability. This should include consideration of the need to monitor sediment communities within the whole site, and analyse the data across the whole site for each particular habitat. 2. To provide information on the level of sampling required to identify spatial variation between and within selected sediment habitats and to be able to identify change over time both within the whole site and within particular habitats. Consideration should be given to the level of detail needed to identify the community structure change such as reducing sampling to specific indicator species, identification of infauna to species, genus or family level, use of different mesh sizes to reduce the amount of fauna collected, and the use of measures such as taxonomic distinctness to streamline the costs of sample identification to a particular taxonomic level. 3. To commence baseline monitoring of representative sediment habitats in Plymouth Sound and Estuaries cSAC to accuracy which will enable discrimination of significant change over agreed limits. In order to establish what level of accuracy is required, or practical in each of the selected monitoring areas it will be necessary to over sample and carry out statistical manipulation of the data to arrive at a strategy for the optimum design of the future monitoring programme. 19991231 19991231