The ecology of Poole Harbour

297 Pages·2005·4.19 MB·English

by  J. Humphreys

The Ecology of Poole Harbour
Companion books to this title in the Proceedings in Marine Science series are:
Volume I: Solent Science - A Review
M. Collins and K. Ansell (Eds.)
Volume 2: Muddy Coast Dynamics and Resource Management
8.W Flernrning, M.T, Delafontaine and G. Liebezeit (Eds.)
Volume 3: Coastal and Estuarine Fine Sediment Processes
W.H. McAnally and A.J. Mehta (Eds.)
Volume 4: Muddy Coasts of the World: Processes, Deposits and Function
I Healy, Y. Wang andJ-A Healy (Eds.)
Volume 5: Fine Sediment Dynamics in the Marine Environment
J. C. Winterwerp and C. Kranenburg (Eds,)
Volume 6: Siberian river run-off in the Kara Sea
Characterisation, quantification, variability and environmental significance
R. Stein, K. Fahl, DX. Futterer, EM. Galimov and O.V. Stepanets (Eds.)
Proceedings in Marine Science /
The Ecology of Poole Harbour
Edited by
J. Humphreys
University of Greenwich
UK
and
V.May
Bournemouth University
UK
2005
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v
Preface
Due mainly to its internationally important bird populations, Poole Harbour has, over
recent years, accrued various national and European statutory designations. Whilst these
populations provide a relatively conspicuous testament to the harbour as a natural
environment, they represent only one aspect of its significance in environmental and
ecological terms. The harbour’s unique combination of size, hydrological and
geomorphological features provide for a rich and productive ecological community.
Moreover these same features, in combination with its geographical position on the
south coast of England, make it a haven for the naturalization of alien species. In this
context, the harbour has been a site for some classic scientific studies, which along with
various environmental assessment or monitoring projects and baseline surveys, have
added considerably to our knowledge. The need to understand the harbour system,
compelling as it is in purely scientific terms, is also necessary as a basis for informed
management of the considerable and growing manifestations of human economic
activity, and their interactions with this valuable natural resource.
In this context, the editors on behalf of the Poole Harbour Study Group, have sought for
the first time to collect together in book form, contributions from various researchers
working on the harbour in such a way as to provide, as far as is possible, a picture of the
ecology of the harbour system as a whole. As such, this book covers all the major
habitats from reedbeds and saltmarshes to the extensive mudflats and the sub-littoral,
while also examining in some detail a wide range of ecological phenomena and issues.
Our indispensable starting point for the assembly of the book was a seminar organized by
the Poole Harbour Study Group and held on 12 November 2003 at the premises of the Poole
Harbour Commissioners. At this seminar, entitled ‘The Changing Harbour’, nine papers
were presented. We are pleased and gratified that all those papers have been written up and
now form chapters in this book. In addition to directly providing a substantial part of the
book, the seminar had the benefit of generating sufficient interest to enable us to assemble
a volume with much more comprehensive coverage than that which could be achieved at a
one-day event. Therefore, this book owes its origin above all to those who organized and
contributed to that conference and who are appropriately acknowledged on page vi.
The Poole Harbour Study Group aims to enhance our understanding by encouraging and
co-ordinating research on Poole Harbour. Our hope is that this volume, by providing a
comprehensive, multidisciplinary, whole-system picture of the harbour, will help further
these aims.
John Humphreys
Vincent May
March 2005
vi
Contents
Preface v
Acknowledgements viii
Poole Harbour Study Group ix
Contributors xi
Introduction:Poole Harbour in Context 1
John Humphreys and Vincent May
1. The Geology of Poole Harbour 9
Andy Gale
2. Geomorphology of Poole Harbour 25
Vincent May
3. Salinity and Tides in Poole Harbour:Estuary or Lagoon? 35
John Humphreys
4. The Vegetation of Poole Harbour 49
Bryan Edwards
5. Physical and Ecological Aspects of the Poole Harbour Reedbeds 61
Kevin Cook
6. History and Ecology of Spartina anglicain Poole Harbour 71
Alan Raybould
7. Macro-invertebrate Fauna in the Intertidal Mudflats 91
Richard Caldow, Selwyn McGrorty, Andrew West,
Sara E. A. LeV dit Durell, Richard Stillman and Sheila Anderson
8. Sub-tidal Ecology of Poole Harbour – An Overview 109
Peter Dyrynda
9. Zooplankton Distribution in Poole Harbour 131
Paola Barbuto, Eunice Pinn and Antony Jensen
10. The Important Birds of Poole Harbour:Population Changes Since 1998 139
Bryan Pickess
11. Otters in Poole Harbour 149
Bronwen Bruce
Contents vii
12. Non-native Species in and around Poole Harbour 159
John Underhill-Day and Peter Dyrynda
13. The Manila Clam in Poole Harbour 163
Antony Jensen, John Humphreys, Richard Caldow and Chris Cesar
14. Ecological Impacts of Sika Deer on Poole Harbour Saltmarshes 175
Anita Diaz, Eunice Pinn and Justine Hannaford
15. Sika Deer Trampling and Saltmarsh Creek Erosion:
Preliminary Investigation 189
Craig House, Vincent May and Anita Diaz
16. Marine Fisheries of Poole Harbour 195
Antony Jenson, Ian Carrier and Neil Richardson
17. Ecological Effects of Pump-scoop Dredging for Cockles on the
Intertidal Benthic Community 205
Linda Parker and Eunice Pinn
18. Water Quality and Pollution Monitoring in Poole Harbour 219
Julian Wardlaw
19. Sediment Quality and Benthic Invertebrates in Holes Bay 223
Fiona Bowles and Paul English
20. Macroalgal Mat Development and Associated Changes in
Infaunal Biodiversity 231
Eunice Pinn and Martin Jones
21. Predicting Habitat Change in Poole Harbour Using Aerial Photography 239
Katie Born
22. Poole Harbour European Marine Site 255
Helen Powell
Conclusion:Science,Development and Management 259
John Humphreys and Vincent May
Index 263
viii
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all those individuals who put in a considerable amount of effort and
commitment on both the organization of the seminar ‘The Changing Harbour’, 12
November 2003, and the subsequent development and publication of this book. These
individuals include members of the Poole Harbour Study Group (listed overleaf) but we
should acknowledge particularly the work of Maria Pegoraro and the Dorset Environmental
Records Centre for taking much of the weight of the organization of the conference along
with her colleague, Brian Edwards and Kevin Cook of Fieldwork and Ecological Surveys.
Thanks also to Poole Harbour Commissioners for providing space for the conference.
Books such as these are entirely dependent on the willingness of authors to submit
contributions. We have been particularly fortunate in getting a group of authors whose
aggregate experience and knowledge of Poole Harbour is second to none. We are above
all grateful to them.
All but one of the chapters have been written especially for this book. The exception is
chapter 6 ‘History and Ecology of the Cord Grass Spartina anglicain Poole Harbour’by
Alan Raybould. We are grateful to him and Judy Lindsay, Director of the Dorset County
Museum for permission to reprint, in modified form, the article which was first published
in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Volume 119.
We are grateful to Infoterra, for the satellite photograph used in the Introduction.
Thanks also to the University of Greenwich Marketing Office, in particular Valerie
Howe, Peter Birkett and Andrew Beatson for editing, design and production. Also from
the University of Greenwich, Avis Brant for a great deal of administrative support in
getting the book together.
The contents of a book such as this is dependent on an enormous number of individuals
and organizations who have contributed in one way or another to the work that is
reported in each of the chapters. Such contributions are acknowledged by individual
authors as appropriate at the end of each chapter. We would like to add our own thanks
to these individuals and organizations.
John Humphreys
Vincent May
Poole Harbour
Poole Harbour
Study Group
Commissioners
ix
Poole Harbour Study Group
Objectives
The objectives of the Poole Harbour Study Group (PHSG) are to further the study of the
geology, hydrology, ecology, physiography and biological communities, and the
monitoring of environmental change in Poole Harbour by:
• establishing and maintaining a database of scientific, historical, cultural and other
relevant studies of the harbour;
• undertaking, promoting, facilitating, co-ordinating and encouraging further studies
of the harbour;
• establishing an archive of harbour studies and keeping this updated;
• facilitating the use of the database and archive by researchers, conservation bodies,
statutory bodies, harbour users and others with a bona fide interest in the harbour;
• acting as a centre for advice and information on features of local, national and
international interest within the harbour;
• assisting with or sponsoring meetings and publications on ecological,
physiographical or biological aspects of the harbour;
• maintaining close links with the Poole Maritime Trust and other bodies with an
interest in the harbour environment.
Membership
Sue Burton English Nature
Richard Caldow Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Kevin Cook (Vice Chairman) Fieldwork and Ecological Surveys
John Day Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Anita Diaz Bournemouth University
Peter Dyrynda University of Wales
Bryan Edwards Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC)
Neil Gartshore Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
George Green Environment Agency
Geoff Hann National Trust
Tegwyn Harris Hatherley Laboratories
John Humphreys University of Greenwich
Antony Jensen Southampton Oceanography Centre
Vincent May (Chair) Bournemouth University
Stephen Morrison Ecological Field Research and Estate Management
Maria Pegoraro Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC)
Angela Peters National Trust
Bryan Pickess Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
Eunice Pinn Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Sally Porter Poole Harbour Commissioners