Zostera Marina Habitat Suitability

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Resource ID

e9eb4a42-95eb-4586-8c74-55af98a42e1f

Date

March 5, 2026, midnight, Publication Date

Abstract

This data has been developed to map areas that have the suitable environmental conditions for the predominantly subtidal seagrass species Zostera marina to grow. It has been developed to show where the environmental conditions may be suitable for seagrass restoration. This map includes a combination of mapped areas of Zostera marina, habitat suitability model outputs and locations of suitable mapped habitat along the coast where the modelled outputs are absent. The data includes outputs from the JNCC Zostera marina habitat suitability model (Castle et al., 2022), Bertelli, C. Zostera habitat suitability (Bertelli et al., 2022), extracted data from JNCC's UKASH and NRW's section 7/OSPAR data. It is important to note that the Zostera marina potential restoration areas have been produced using environmental variables only. Consideration has not been given to any human induced environmental (e.g. climate change, overexploitation, pollution etc.) or human capacity constraints (e.g. seabed use, licences, regulations and policies etc.) that may impact any restoration efforts. The outputs therefore represent a starting point in which to focus effort, with a view that further investigations will need to be undertaken before proceeding with a plan or project to restore or create Zostera marina habtiat in any given location The data is in vector format and should be viewed using the two lyr files: Zostera marina habitat suitability JNCC model values.lyr and Zostera marina habitat suitability map source.lyr. Further work is being carried out by NRW in partnership with others to determine where these possible areas might be refined into more feasible as part of a wider work stream to deliver enhanced resilience of Welsh seas in line with the Environment Act objectives and Section 6 duty (‘to maintain and enhance resilience of ecosystems’). The wider programme will focus on co-development of tools including narratives, maps and data that identify and communicate where and what the most significant opportunities are to enhance the resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems in Wales. Attribution Statement: Contains Natural Resources Wales information © Natural Resources Wales and Database Right. All rights Reserved. Contains data based on JNCC USKASH, © JNCC and other data providers as set out in their data inventory.

Edition

Responsible

Andrew.Thomas.Jeffery

Point of Contact

Jeffery

andrew.jeffery@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

Purpose

Maintenance Frequency

None

Type

not filled

Restrictions

None

License

Open Government Licence for Public Sector Information

Language

Temporal Extent

Start

End

Supplemental Information

Data Quality

Extent

x0: -5.624194145202637
x1: -2.654925346374512
y0: 51.097225189208984
y1: 53.578453063964844

Spatial Reference System Identifier

EPSG:4326

Keywords

no keywords

Category

Biota

Regions

Global

Resource Metadata

Zostera Marina Habitat Suitability