aba64100-c157-4de3-e044-0003ba6f30bd English dataset Mary Mowat British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 +44 (0)131 668 4140 offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2011-08-30 MEDIN Discovery Metadata Standard Version 2.3.5 urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326 OGP 2006 Strategic Environmental Assessment SEA7 Technical Report - Benthos. An Introduction to the Benthic Ecology of the Rockall - Hatton Area 2006-03-01 publication BGS_SEA_99 British Geological Survey This report is a contribution to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA7) conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (now Department of Energy and Climate Change). The SEA 7 area, especially the Hebrides slope and areas of the Rockall Trough has been significant in the development of deep-sea biology since the 19th century. In recent decades intensive sampling has been undertaken by researchers from UK institutions such as the Scottish Association for Marine Science (formerly the Scottish Marine Biological Association) and the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. The entire SEA 7 area is contained within the biogeographic region known as the Atlantic Deep-Sea Province, with the major oceanographic variables defined by the passage of North Atlantic Deep-Water. To the south, concentrated research efforts have taken place in areas such as the southern Rockall Trough, Porcupine Seabight and Porcupine Abyssal Plain. These encompass similar hydrographic and oceanic conditions to those of the SEA 7 area and form a basis for comparison. A brief overview of the history of deep-sea research in the SEA 7 area is provided here, along with a summary of the physical environment. In this report, however, the main focus is the ecology of seafloor-dwelling organisms. The ecology of benthic communities is described with respect to large-scale trends and is discussed in the context of how anthropogenic influences may affect the benthos. Paul Henni British Geological Survey (BGS) +44 (0)131 667 1000 Murchison House, West Mains Road Edinburgh EH9 3LA UK offshoredata@bgs.ac.uk custodian Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) +44 0300 060 4000 +44 (0) 1823 284077 Admiralty Way London SW1A 2HD UK enquiries@decc.gsi.gov.uk originator notPlanned Documents NDGO0001 Fauna abundance per unit area of the bed Industrial activity Zoobenthos taxonomic abundance SeaDataNet Parameter Discovery Vocabulary 2011-03-25 revision Habitats and biotopes Species distribution GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication crust sediment SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2008-06-01 publication The SEAs data were produced as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme; Crown Copyright, all rights reserved. The DECC SEA must be acknowledged in any maps or publications that make use of the data. All the data files are freely available to the public. The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. BGS (NERC) has been contracted by DECC to publish SEA datasets on its behalf. All intellectual property rights (including , without limitation, copyrights, database rights and all other rights which subsist or may at any time in the future subsist in the Dataset(s)) in the Dataset(s) ('Intellectual Property Rights') are owned by DECC (formerly the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform). BGS has been authorised by DECC to use SEA datasets for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit basis'. BGS has been authorised by DECC to pass on SEA datasets to third parties so that they can use them for all purposes but on a 'not-for-profit' basis. intellectualPropertyRights 5 English biota environment oceans SeaVoX salt and fresh water body gazetteer 2006-01-01 revision North Atlantic Ocean -24 -5 55.2 60.2 2006-01-01 2006-01-01 http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/index.php http://www.bgs.ac.uk/data/sea/home.html Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) data portal provides free access to available data and reports which have been produced through the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change SEA process. The site is run and managed by BGS on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Many files can be downloaded directly from this website. Those that are too large to download can be ordered via the website for postal delivery from BGS. download dataset This report was prepared by Andrew J Davies, Bhavani E Narayanaswamy, David J Hughes, and J Murray Roberts of the Scottish Association for Marine Science as part of the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change's Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment programme. Various information source were used in the compilation of this report including literature and data from research projects conducted in the SEA7 area.