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Assessment of the Functional Development of a Habitat Offset Site on the Humber (PHS)

People Involved

Mr Nick Cutts

Mr Lucas Mander

Profile image of Professor Mike Elliott

Professor Mike Elliott Mike.Elliott@hull.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor of Estuarine and Coastal Sciences/ Research Professor, Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies

Project Description

The Paull Holme Strays managed realignment site was created in September, 2003 with the aim of providing 80 ha of new intertidal habitat (Environment Agency, 2005). Since 2003, the site has been subjected to monitoring, designed to determine the rate of accretion and saltmarsh development within the site, together with colonisation by benthic invertebrates (commenced September, 2004), physical development of the habitat (sedimentological properties) and use of the site by birds for feeding and roosting. These studies were carried out independently, resulting in the submission of a set of separate reports to the Environment Agency each year. Following the first five years of monitoring, it was apparent that the habitats and communities within the site were still in an early stage of development and the monitoring programme was extended to 2013 in order to fully assess whether or not the site would meet its objectives. Additionally, it was agreed that integrated analysis of the full data set was necessary to better understand the development process.

Following data collection, the general approach to the analysis has been to compare the physical and biological properties of the developing habitat (i.e. the realignment site) with those of the natural habitat (i.e. outside the realignment site) (e.g. Evans et al., 1998; Garbutt et al. 2006; Marquiegui & Aguirrezabalaga, 2009, Franco & Mazik, 2011 and previous, referenced monitoring reports). However, this broad approach does not account for spatial heterogeneity in terms of habitat development and colonisation within created habitats and therefore does not allow a detailed understanding of site development.

The present study aims to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of invertebrates, vegetation and birds in relation to elevation and other physical factors. The relationships between the physical and biological parameters will be examined in order to determine the factors governing colonisation by plants and invertebrates and use of the site by birds.

Status Project Complete
Value £96,870.00
Project Dates Oct 1, 2008 - Dec 31, 2017

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