Priority Marine Habitats of Wales: Carbonate Reefs
dataset
https://portal.medin.org.uk/portal/start.php?tpc=007_4f4c4942-4343-5764-6473-313134373234
UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) priority habitats cover a wide range of semi-natural habitat types, and were those that were identified as being the most threatened and requiring conservation action under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP). The UK BAP habitats and species lists have been used to draw statutory lists of priority habitats as required under Section 42 of the Natural Environmental and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006. The habitats listed as priority habitats include; blue mussel beds, Fragile sponge and anthozoan communities, Tide swept channels, Horse mussel beds, Maerl beds, Honeycomb worm reefs, Seagrass beds, Oyster beds, Intertidal boulder communities, Intertidal mudflats, mud habitats in deep water, Sheltered muddy gravels, subtidal mixed muddy sediments
, Estuarine rocky habitats, Peat and clay exposures, Carbonate reefs, Musculus discors beds, Saline lagoons, Coastal Saltmarsh and Subtidal sands and gravels.
The data is related to carbonate reefs only. The reef structure that was identified is known as 'Holden's Reef' – it is composed of a particular type of calcium carbonate formed by methane gas leaking from the seabed. This, and the associated reefs are the first known example of this habitat in UK inshore waters. Majority of the records are from the 1960s onwards. This data is still in draft format and has not yet been finalised. All habitat records include a confidence measure. Decisions about how these were applied are documented in the processing notes for each habitats.
20151118