PROVISIONAL ATLAS of the MARINE ALGAE of BRITAIN & IRELAND

176 Pages·2008·2.6 MB·English

PROVISIONAL ATLAS
of the
MARINE ALGAE
of
BRITAIN & IRELAND
Edited for the
British PhycologicalS ociety
by
Professor T.A. NORTON
(University of Liverpool)
1985
BIOLOGICAL RECORDS CENTRE
Monks Wood Experimental Station
nstitute of Terrestrial Ecology, Nature Conservancy Council,
donks Wood Experimental Station, Northrninster House,
iuntingdon. Peterborough
á
NATURALE NVIRONMENRTE SEARCHC OUNCIL
INSTITUTOEF TERRESTRIAELC OLOGY
PROVISIONALA TLAS
OF THE
MARINEA LGAE
OF BRITAINA ND IRELAND
Edited for the
BritishP hycologicalS ociety
by
ProfessorT A Norton
(Universitoyf Liverpool)
1985
Institutoef TerrestriaElc ology NatureC onservancCyo uncil
BiologicaRle cordsC entre NorthminsteHro use
MonksW ood ExperimentaSlt ation PETERBOROUGH
AbbotsR ipton PEI lUA
HUNTINGDONP E17 2LS
Printedi n GreatB ritainb y
NERCR eprographics
C NERC Copyright1 985
Publisheidn 1985b y
Institutoef TerrestriaElc ology
AdministratiHveea dquarters
MonksW ood ExperimentaSlt ation
AbbotsR ipton
HUNTINGDON
PE172 LS
ISBN0 9042828 9 9
The Institutoef TerrestriaElc ology (ITE)w as establisheidn 1973,
from the formerN atureC onservancy'rse searchs tationsa nd staff,
joinedl aterb y the Institutoef TreeB iologya nd the CultureC entre
of Algaea nd Protozoa.I TE contributetso , and drawsu pon,t he
collectivken owledgoef the 13 sisteri nstitutewsh ichm ake up
the NaturalE nvironmenRte searchC ouncil, spanninga ll the
environmentaslc iences.
The Institutset udiest he factorsd eterminintgh e structure,
compositioann d processeosf landa nd freshwatesry stems,a nd of
individuapll anta nd animals pecies.I t is developinag sounder
scientifibca sisf or predictinagn d modellinge nvironmentatlr ends
arisingf romn aturalo r man-madec hange. The resultso f thisr esearch
are availablteo thoser esponsiblfeo r the protectionm,a nagemenatn d
wiseu se of our naturalr esources.
One quartero f ITE'sw ork is researchc ommissionebdy customerss,u ch
as the Departmenotf Environmentt,h e EuropeanE conomicC ommunityt,h e
NatureC onservancCyo uncila nd the OverseasD evelopment
AdministrationT.h e remaindeirs fundamentarle searchs upportebdy
NERC.
ITE'se xpertisies widelyu sedb y internationaolr ganizationisn
overseasp rojectsa nd programmeosf reiearch.
The BiologicaRle cordsC entrei s operatedb y ITE,a nd
receivesf inanciaslu pportf rom the NatureC onservancy
Council.I t seekst o helpn aturalistasn d research
biologisttso coordinatteh eire ffortsi n studyingt he
occurrencoef plantsa nd animalsi n the BritishI sles,
and to make the resultso f theses tudiesa vailablteo
others.
BiologicaRle cordsC entre
Institutoef TerrestriaElc ology
MonksW ood ExperimentaSlt ation
AbbotsR ipton
HUNTINGDON
PE172 LS
048 73 (AbbotsR ipton)3 81
CONTENTS
Page
Foreword ii
Introductio n
Methods
Geographicaclo verage
Selectioonf species iv
Uses of the datab ank iv
Futurer ecording
Acknowledgemen tvsi
References vii
Distributiomna ps
Map 1 Coveragem ap
Maps 2-24 Chlorophyta
Maps 25-70 Phaeophyta
Maps 71-156 Rhodophyta
Indext o maps
á
FOREWORD
This ProvisionaAlt las of the MarineA l ae of Britaina nd Irelandi s
the resulto f the dedicatede ffortso f many people. Whilstp art of
those effortsw as directeds pecificallayt providingd ata for the
British PhycologicalS ociety'sMarine Algal RecordingS cheme, a
substantiaalm ounto f the data used was extractedf rom information
assembledf or other purposes. Neverthelessa,l l the distributional
records,f romw hatevers ource,h aveb eena ssesseda nd validatebde fore
theiri ncorporatioinn tot he datab ase summarizeidn thisA tlas. Most
of the recordersb,o thp rofessionaaln d amateur,h ave givent heirt ime
and data freely. The true economicc ost of collectinagn d collating
thisi nformatiobny any otherm eansw ouldh aveb een prohibitive.
As indicatedi n the Introductiont,h e BPS Marine Algal Recording
Schemei s to continueu ntili t is reckonedt hat therea re sufficient
species distributiond ata to prepare a definitiveA tlas. An
additionalo bjectivei s to recordt he locationo f speciesw ith more
precisiont,o getherw ith somei ndicatioonf the habitatt ype,s o that
the informatiobna se for the finalA tlas is of even greateru se than
this provisionaalt las. In particulars,u ch informatiowni ll be of
considerablues e to the NatureC onservancCyo uncili n preparingt he
proposedM arineN atureC onservatioRne viewo f GreatB ritain. As with
its terrestriaclo unterpartt,h e purposeo f this revieww ill be to
classifya nd describet he range of marineh abitats,c ommunitieasn d
speciesa nd identifyt hose sites consideredt o be of the highest
importancea nd which should be conservedi e as Sites of Special
ScientificI nterest,N ationalN atureR eserveso r, especiallyM,a rine
NatureR eserves. This Revieww ill also act as a basisf or adviceo n
the wider marinee nvironment.F or many habitats,t he marinea lgal
communitiesw ill be the prime attributesu sed in classifyinagn d
assessings ites. We thereforeh ope that this extra and important
requirementi n field recordingw ill provide a new interesta nd,
indeed,a stimulust o the next phase of marinea lgal recordingt o
achievet he finalA tlas.
We recordo ur particulatrh ankst o the BiologicaRle cordsC entrea t
Monks Wood for applyingt heir experiencea nd expertiset o the
collationa nd presentatioonf the data and the publicatioonf this
Atlas. However,w ithoutt he considerableef forto f ProfessorT revor
Nortona nd the recorderso f the BritishP hycologicaSlo ciety,t his
Atlasc ouldn ot haveb eenp roducedw;e are indebtedt o them.
Dr RogerM itchell
SarahF owler
ChiefS cientisDti rectorate
NatureC onservancCyo uncil
INTRODUCTION
A Marine Algae RecordingS cheme was launchedb y the British
PhycologicaSlo ciety( BPS),i n conjunctiowni th the BiologicaRle cords
Centre( BRC),i n 1971. The aim of the scheme,o rganisebdy Professor
T A Norton,i s to map the distributioonf the Britishs eaweeds. It
coversa ll the benthicm emberso f the ChlorophytaP,h aeophytaa nd
Rhodophytap,l us the genus Vaucheria( Xanthophyta).O nly attached
seaweedsa re recordedd,r iftp lantsb eingi gnoreda s theirp rovenance
is unknown. A PreliminarA tlas of fifteens peciesw as publishedb y
BRC in 1978; since then recordingh as progresseds teadilya nd a
ProvisionaAlt laso f 155 taxac an now be published.
Method s
The seaweedsl,i mitedb y theirr equirementfso r both lighta nd secure
attachmenta,r e largelyc onfinedt o shalloww aters close inshore.
Thereforet heird istributionl,i ke thato f terrestriaolr ganismsc,a n
be recordeda nd mapped using the OrdnanceS urvey NationalG rid
ReferenceS ystem for Great Britain,t he SuirbheireachOtr donais/
OrdnanceS urveyN ationalG rid for Irelanda nd the UniversaTlr ansverse
MercatorG rid (ChannelI slands).
A standardr ecordincga rdw as produceda t the starto f the scheme,a nd
was used for fieldr ecordingb y an enthusiastigcr oupi ncludingb oth
professionalp hycologistsa nd amateur collectors. In addition,
recordsh ave been extractedf rom the herbariumo f the Departmento f
Botany,U niversitCyo llege,G alway( GALW),a nd from papersp ublished
since1 950.
The accumulaterde cordc ardsw ere passedo ver to BRC towardst he end
of 1982,a nd put on to computerf ile in 1983-84.T he followindga ta
(if providedb y the originalr ecorderw)e re includedf or each record:
speciesc ode number,s ite name, grid reference( in full),d ate of
record,c ode number of recorder,s ourceo f record. In addition,
recordsm ade duringN atureC onservancCyo uncil( NCC)s urveysa nd held
by NCC on computerf ile were made availablet o BRC and incorporated
into the data bank. Most of the data processinagt BRC was carried
out by FrancescGar iffitha nd Mrs D M Greene.
Maps of all speciesw ere plottedf rom the resultindga ta. Thesem aps
were examinedb y T A Nortona nd R Mitchell( NCC)a nd 155 were selected
for inclusioni n a ProvisionaAlt las. The presenceo f a dot on the
map indicatetsh at therei s at leasto ne recordf rom that 10 kmgrid
square. Only recordsd ating from 1950 onwardsh ave been maPped,
althoughs omeo lderr ecordsa re includedi n the datab ank.
Geo ra hicalc overae
Recordsh aven ow been receivedf or about8 0% of the approximatel1y1 20
squaresc overingt he coastlineo f the BritishI sles( map 1). Ireland
is the most poorlyc overedr egion,e specialltyh e north-wesatl though
thisa rea offerss omeo f the most promisincgo llectinggr oundsi n the
BritishI sles.
For a frequentleyn counteresdp eciest hat is readilyi dentifiableu,p
to 1000 independenrte cordsh ave been received.H owever,a s therei s
often more than one recordf rom a given 10 km square,t herem ay be
only5 00-600d ots on the map.
Selectiono f s ecies
The 155 speciesm appedi n this Atlas were selectedt o indicatet he
progresso f the schemea nd to stimulatec ollectingi n areas where
recordsa re sparseo r completellya cking. The maps are also intended
to draw attentiont o the distributiopna tternst hat are emergings o
that they may be verifiedo r challengedb y collectorsd eliberately
searchingf or speciesb eyondt heirr ecordedl imits.
Some poorlyr ecordeds peciesh ave been includedt o draw attentiont o
the neglectt hatb efallss peciest hata re criticalo r are laborioutso
identify, eg the calcareousc rustose RhodophytaD ermatolithon
corallinae( map 99) and Ph tolithonl enormandi(im ap 135). Species
that produces mall, inconspicuoupsl ants,e g M rionemas tranu lans
(map5 8),o r thati nhabitc ryptich abitatse,g Tellamiai ntricata( map
21) and parasiticp lants,e g Choreocolaxo l si honiae( map 139) are
rarelyn otedi n passingb ut are usuallyp resenti f lookedf or.
A remarkablfee atureo f the maps is the numbero f speciesw hicha ppear
to reach their geographicalli mitsi n the BritishI sles,a region
whicho ccupiesa latitudinarla ngeo f littlem ore than 10°. In the
captionst o the maps,t he terms' northerna'n d 'southernr'e fert o the
distributioonf the specieso utsidet he BritishI sles.
Uses of the datab ank
It is clear that we now have a more detailedk nowledgeo f the
distributioonf seaweedsa roundt he BritishI sles than in any other
comparablree gion.
Detailedr ecords,s ucha s thosen ow availablien the data bank,a re an
essentiaplr erequisitief we are to monitort he changes thato ccuri n
coastalw aters. Somes peciesh aver etreateidn the faceo f industrial
pollution:m any speciesn o longerg row far into the Firtho f Fortho r
the Tees estuaryw here once they thrived. On the other hand,
introducedi nvasives peciesa re expandingt heir ranges. A striking
recente xamplei s Sar assumm uticum,a Japaneses peciesf irstf oundi n
Britaini n 1971 but now firmlye stablisheadl l alongt he southc oast
of Englanda nd on the coasto f continentaElu ropef romT he Netherlands
to Brittany.
There are other indicationst hat our coastal vegetationm ay be
changing faster than we appreciate. In recent years diving
phycologisthsa ve added dozens of species to the Britishf lora.
Usually,h owever,i t is difficultt o be sure that thesea dditionasr e
reallyn ewcomerst o our shoresr athert han long establisherde sidents
that awaitedd iscoveryi n rarelyv isiteds ites. The maps in this
Atlasa re merelya manifestatioonf a largea nd growingr epositoroyf
distributiondaalt a thatw ill servea s the referencaeg ainstw hicha ll
futurer ecordsc an be compared.
iv
Futurer ecordin
The BPS recordinsgc hemew ill continuew,i th a view to the enlargement
of the data bank and the publicatioonf a finalA tlasc ontaininmga ps
of all species. It is hoped that all futurer ecordsw ill include
full detailso f locality,g rid referencer,e cordera nd date so as to
enhancet he qualityo f the data in the datab ank. Furtherd etailsc an
be obtainedf rom ProfessorT A Norton,D epartmenotf MarineB iology,
PortE rin,I sleo f Man.
v