Marine Habitat Species Composition Tables for Britain and Ireland Littoral Zones

Britain and Ireland's littoral and sublittoral marine habitats are described in a spreadsheet of species information. The biological comparative tables enable rapid comparison of species composition between user-defined biotopes. The dataset is provided by the Government Digital Service as a downloadable Excel document based on the 2004 classification version.

Use Cases

• Compare species composition between different biotopes based on the comparative tables.
• Analyze habitat associations for specific marine species based on the species information.
• Support environmental impact assessments for coastal zones based on the habitat classification.

Strengths

• Focuses on a defined geographic scope: Britain and Ireland.
• Enables rapid comparison between user-defined sets of biotopes as described.
• Based on a published classification system from 2004.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
• Does not include the deep-sea section added to the classification in 2015.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Likely compiled from biological surveys and expert knowledge to support the Marine Habitat Classification.

Time Range

Classification published in 2004; data likely reflects knowledge up to that period.

Freshness

unknown

Geography

Britain and Ireland, specifically littoral and sublittoral zones.