Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-02T23:36:59.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Preliminary Survey of the Benthic Macrofauna and Sediments in Lochs Etive and Creran, Sea-Lochs Along the West Coast of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

John Gage
John Gage
Affiliation:
Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 3, Oban, Argyll, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The hydrographic conditions in the two sea-lochs is briefly described where relevant to the survey of the benthos. Seasonal changes in temperature and salinity in Loch Etive appear to follow roughly the local coastal pattern but usually with a lag in timing that is considered to be because of the restricting effect of the twin sills. Replenishment of deep-basin water by ventilation over the sills is spasmodic and controlled by surface stratification; the latter being due primarily to freshwater runoff. This situation contrasts with Loch Creran which has only a small catchment and where the seasonal hydrography closely follows the pattern outside. Other possible reasons for the differences observed between the two lochs are discussed.

The bottom fauna of both lochs was sampled semi-quantitatively with an anchor dredge at 22 stations in Loch Etive and 8 in Loch Creran at depths from 7–117 m. A detailed list of the fully marine fauna present is given. The species occurrences in the single-haul samples are compared objectively using a coefficient of similarity of the presence/absence records. An attempt is made to relate the groupings shown up to the classical ‘bottom community’ concept, to the feeding-type categories of the bottom animals and to analysis of particle size of sediment samples taken at the same stations. A correlation to sediment type was apparent. This is considered to owe as much to local hydrographic conditions which the sediment reflect as to the sediment itself.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , February 1972 , pp. 237 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Admiralty, 1955. West Coast of Scotland Pilot. 686 pp. London: Admiralty Hydrographic Department.Google Scholar
Allen, E. J. & Todd, R. A. 1900. The fauna of the Salcombe estuary. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 6, pp. 151–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, J. B. 1963. The bottom fauna communities and their sediment relationships off the coast of Northumberland. Oikos, Vol. 14, pp. 154–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craib, J. S. 1965. A sampler for taking short undisturbed marine cores. J. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer, Vol. 30, pp. 34–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekman, S. 1947. Über die Festigkeit der Marinen Sedimente als Faktor der Tierrerbreitung, ein Beitrag zur Associations-analyse. Zool. Bidr. Uppsala, Vol. 25, pp. 1–20.Google Scholar
Holme, N. A. 1959. A hopper for use when sieving bottom samples at sea. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 38, pp. 525–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holme, N. A. 1961. The bottom fauna of the English Channel. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 41, PP. 397–461.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holme, N. A. 1964. Methods of sampling the benthos. Adv. Mar. Biol., Vol. 2, pp. 171–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, N. S. 1950. Marine bottom communities. Biol. Rev., Vol. 25, pp. 283–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krumbein, W. C. & Pettijohn, F. J. 1938. Manual of Sedimentary Petrography. 549 pp. New York: Appleton Century Crofts.Google Scholar
McIntyre, A. D. 1956. The use of trawl, grab and camera in estimating marine benthos. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 35, pp. 419–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mölander, A. R. 1928. Animal communities on soft bottom area in the Gullmar Fjord. Kristinebergs Zoologiska Station, 1877–1927, No. 2, 90 pp.Google Scholar
Morgans, J. F. C. 1956. Notes on the analysis of shallow water soft substrata. J. Anim. Ecol., Vol. 25, pp. 367–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morisita, M. 1959. Measuring of interspecific association and similarity between communities. Mem. Fac. Set. Kyushu Univ., Ser. E (Biol.), Vol. 3, pp. 65–80.Google Scholar
Mountford, M. D. 1962. An index of similarity and its application to classifactory problems. In Progress in Soil Zoology, pp. 43–50. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Nicol, E. A. T. 1936. The brackish-water lochs of North Uist. Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Vol. 56, pp. 169–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearson, T. H. 1970. The benthic ecology of Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil, a sea-loch system on the west coast of Scotland. I. The physical environment and distribution of the macrobenthic fauna. J. exp. mar. Biol. Ecol., Vol. 5, pp. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petersen, C. G. J. 1913. Valuation of the sea. II. The animal communities of the sea-bottom and their importance for marine zoogeography. Rep. Dan. biol. Stn, Vol. 21, 44 pp.Google Scholar
Petersen, C. G. J. 1918. The sea bottom and its production of fish food. Rep. Dan. biol. Stn, Vol. 25, 62 pp.Google Scholar
Petersen, C. G. J. 1924. A brief survey of the animal communities in Danish waters. Am. J. Sci., Vol. 7, pp. 343–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sørensen, T. 1948. A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species content and its application to analyses of the vegetation of Danish Commons. Biol. Skr., Vol. 5, 34 pp.Google Scholar
Spärck, R. 1935. On the importance of quantitative investigations of the bottom fauna in marine biology. J. Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer., Vol. 10, pp. 3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
StrøM, K. M. 1936. Land-locked waters. Hydrography and bottom deposits in badly-ventilated Norwegian anaerobic conditions. Skr. norske Vidensk-Akad. (Mat-naturv. Kl.), No. 7, 85 pp.Google Scholar
Segerstråle, S. G. 1957. ‘Baltic Sea’. Mem. geol. Soc. America, No. 67, Vol. 1, pp. 751–800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephen, A. C. 1929. Studies on the Scottish marine fauna: The fauna of the sandy and muddy areas of the tidal zone. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb., Vol. 56, pp. 291–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stephen, A. C. 1933. Studies on the Scottish marine fauna: The natural faunistic divisions of the North Sea as shown by the quantitative distribution of the molluscs. Trans. R. Soc. Edinb., Vol. 57, pp. 601–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorson, G. 1957. Bottom communities (sublittoral or shallow shelf). Mem. geol. Soc. Ameria, No. 67, Vol. 1, pp. 751–800.Google Scholar