OSPAR OSPAR Commission - Commission OSPAR
back home email search

 

Mapping the distribution of habitats on the Initial OSPAR List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats

Maps showing the distribution of habitats on the Initial OSPAR List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats

1.         In 2003, the OSPAR Commission adopted an initial list of threatened and/or declining species and habitats, with further species and habitats added in 2004.  At its Biodiversity Committee (BDC) meeting in 2003, OSPAR agreed to proceed with a programme to collate existing data on the distribution of the fourteen habitats on this list, as part of a wider programme to develop measures for their protection and conservation. BDC 2004 agreed on working definitions for each habitat type for the purposes of this mapping programme. Case reports on each habitat type were published by OSPAR in 2004.

2.         Each OSPAR Contracting Party agreed to compile the relevant data for its own marine waters and submit these to the lead country (UK) for collation into composite maps on the distribution of each habitat type across the whole OSPAR area. The work has been coordinated by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).

3.         A web-mapping application has been developed to disseminate the data collated through the OSPAR mapping programme, derived from the UK's National Biodiversity Network web-mapping facility. This has been further developed to enable OSPAR habitat types to be mapped, to map data beyond the UK national grid area and to enable mapping using latitude/longitude co-ordinates.

4.         Data coverage: The data available to date provide an initial indication of the distribution of each OSPAR priority habitat type; further data will be added as it becomes available. The maps are not yet considered to be comprehensive for the OSPAR area as a whole and may not be comprehensive within any given Contracting Party’s waters. The following table provides a summary of the coverage of data for the distribution of listed habitats within the OSPAR area.

Table 1: Summary, by Contracting Party and for the high seas, of the distribution of listed habitats within the OSPAR area (last updated March 2006), indicating where:

ü      data have been supplied for the listed habitat (not necessarily by the respective Contracting Party)

û       the listed habitat has not been reported as being present in the Contracting Parties’ waters or the high seas (either currently or in the past)

P       the habitat has been reported as being present in the Contracting Parties’ waters but no data have been supplied

Ex     the habitat has been reported as having occurred in the Contracting Parties’ waters in the past but is now considered to be extinct.

 

  Belgium Denmark France Germany Iceland Ireland Netherlands Norway Portugal Spain Sweden UK High seas  
Carbonate mounds û   û     û   û ü   û       P û ü    
Deep-sea sponge aggregations   û   û     û   ü   ü   û P ü     û   ü  
Oceanic ridges with hydrothermal vents/fields   û û û û ü   û û P ü     û û ü  
Lophelia pertusa reefs û   ü ü û ü ü û ü ü ü ü ü ü
Ostrea edulis beds   üEx   û   P Ex û ü   P     P ü û
Seamounts û ü P   û     û û ü ü û ü ü
Seapens & burrowing megafauna communities   û ü P P   ü ü ü   P ü ü  
Zostera beds û ü P ü ü ü P ü   P ü ü û
Intertidal mudflats ü ü P ü ü ü ü ü   P P ü û
Littoral chalk communities û û P û û û û û   û û ü û
Maerl beds û û P û ü ü û P ü P P ü û
Modiolus modiolus horse mussel beds û û P û     û P   û P ü û
Sabellaria spinulosa reefs û û P P û   û û     û ü û
Intertidal Mytilus edulis beds on mixed and sandy sediments û   û   P ü ü ü P P     P ü û  

 

 

Figure 1: The following figure shows a map of the OSPAR area indicating the distribution and density of habitat data supplied by Contracting Parties and other sources up to January 2006 and summarized by 50km by 50km grid squares.

 


 

5.         Data quality: access to the source data on which the maps are based is possible through the ‘query records’ facility. These supporting data are provided by Contracting Parties to ensure there is an appropriate level of quality assurance in the maps made available here. The supporting data are also intended to indicate whether each record is a confirmed (certain) record for the habitat or whether it is ‘uncertain’, possibly due to lack of supporting species data. In particularly, many of the Lophelia pertusa reef records are marked as uncertain records as they relate to the known occurrence of the Lophelia pertusa species but there is as yet insufficient information to confirm the presence of Lophelia reef habitat.

6.         Spatial data: some data sets have also been supplied as GIS shape files. Work is underway within the Interreg MESH project (see www.searchMESH.net) to incorporate this type of data for the north-west Europe area.

7.                   Additional data: any additional data to further improve the maps would be most welcome and should be submitted via the relevant Contracting Party. Please contact the UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee (OSPARmapping@jncc.gov.uk) if you wish to submit further data or have other comments.

8.                   Disclaimer: The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the contents of the maps. Efforts have been made to ensure that the information given is as accurate as possible, but it is not necessarily comprehensive, complete, accurate or up-to-date. This disclaimer is not intended to limit the liability of the Commission contrary to any obligations imposed by applicable national law nor to exclude liability for matters which may not be excluded under that law.

Maps showing the distribution of habitats on the Initial OSPAR List of Threatened and/or Declining Species and Habitats

 
© Copyright OSPAR Commission 1998- - All rights Reserved
back home email search