Habitat point records from 1984 Smith west Sutherland survey

This survey took place during the latter half of July 1984, covering the shore and inshore waters of west Sutherland between Droman Pier and Badcall Bay. 11 shore and 58 sublittoral sites were investigated. Aims: 1. Carry out survey of sublittoral habitats; 2. Revisit shore stations surveyed in 1979 (Smith, 1981); 3. Investigate Obs and lagoons. Sublittoral was lacking in diversity of species. Much of rock surface grazed down to encrusting calcareous algae by Echinus esculentus, there being a notable lack of red algae. The dominant phylum was Echinodermata, with their large size and weight of numbers. In contrast to the rocky area, the muddy bottoms were of considerable interest and several species not often recorded by divers were found, e.g. Edwardsia claperdi, Trichobranchus glacialis, Chaetoderma nitidulum and Philbertia purpuea. Sites worthy of further investigation are the muddy parts of Loch Inchard and Loch Laxford, especially Loch A'Chadh-fi, and all the waters around Handa. In all, nearly 500 species of plants and animals were identified. The 4 lagoon stations were examined most carefully and Lochan nam Meallan and Struth Mor were found to be less rich than they were in 1979. Struth Mor and Lochan na Fionnadalach Bige were a slight disappointment and judgement is reserved on them. Loch Ceann na Saile was of limited interest. Loch an Roin would repay further study and this station is assessed as Grade 1 - 2. Rubha Shios was a very prolific area and is assessed as Grade 3 - 4. Records currently considered sensitive have been removed from this dataset.

本次调查于1984年7月下旬进行，涵盖了西苏塞克斯郡从德罗曼码头至巴德卡尔湾的海岸及近岸水域。共调查了11个海岸和58个亚潮间带地点。研究目标如下：1. 对亚潮间带生境进行调查研究；2. 重访1979年调查过的海岸站（Smith，1981）；3. 调查观测站和潟湖。亚潮间带生物多样性不足。大部分岩石表面已被可食海参（Echinus esculentus）啃食，直至覆盖其上的钙化藻类，红藻的缺失尤为显著。优势门类为棘皮动物门，因其体型庞大，数量众多。与岩石区域形成鲜明对比的是，泥泞的海底颇具研究价值，发现了潜水员很少记录到的几种物种，例如：Edwardsia claperdi、Trichobranchus glacialis、Chaetoderma nitidulum和Philbertia purpuea。值得进一步研究的地点包括因查德湖和拉克斯福德湖的泥泞区域，特别是阿查德湖，以及汉达周边的所有水域。总计鉴定出近500种植物和动物。对4个潟湖站点进行了最细致的考察，发现洛汗纳梅兰和斯特劳特莫尔的水域在1979年后资源有所减少。斯特劳特莫尔和洛汗纳费恩达尔奇格的发现略感失望，对其评价尚需保留。洛恩纳萨伊尔对研究兴趣有限。洛恩阿罗因站值得进一步研究，该站点被评为1-2级。鲁巴希奥斯地区生物多样性丰富，被评为3-4级。目前认为敏感的记录已从本数据集中移除。