Haig Fras Marine Conservation Zone Macrofauna Survey - July 2012

11 grab samples collected between 5th and 8th July 2012 at the Haig Fras Marine Conservation Zone. The data contain counts and presence/absence records for macrofauna species. This survey was funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) for the Marine Conservation Zones Project.

Use Cases

• Assessing species diversity and abundance within a designated Marine Conservation Zone based on the grab sample data.
• Modeling benthic community structure based on species counts and presence/absence records.
• Establishing baseline ecological conditions for a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) for future monitoring.
• Analyzing the spatial distribution of macrofauna from a limited set of sample points.

Strengths

• Data is temporally precise, collected over a 4-day period in July 2012.
• Focuses on a specific, legally protected marine area (Haig Fras SAC/MCZ).
• Includes both quantitative counts and qualitative presence/absence records for species.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset's scale is limited to 11 grab samples, representing a snapshot.

Provenance

Source

Government Digital Service

Collection Method

Grab samples collected from the seabed.

Time Range

5th-8th July 2012

Freshness

Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Geography

Haig Fras Marine Conservation Zone (Special Area of Conservation), UK waters