The Ecology of Poole Harbour Companion books to this title in the Proceedings in Marine Science series are: Volume I: Solent Science - A Review M. Collins and K. Ansell (Eds.) Volume 2: Muddy Coast Dynamics and Resource Management 8.W Flernrning, M.T, Delafontaine and G. Liebezeit (Eds.) Volume 3: Coastal and Estuarine Fine Sediment Processes W.H. McAnally and A.J. Mehta (Eds.) Volume 4: Muddy Coasts of the World: Processes, Deposits and Function I Healy, Y. Wang andJ-A Healy (Eds.) Volume 5: Fine Sediment Dynamics in the Marine Environment J. C. Winterwerp and C. Kranenburg (Eds,) Volume 6: Siberian river run-off in the Kara Sea Characterisation, quantification, variability and environmental significance R. Stein, K. Fahl, DX. Futterer, EM. Galimov and O.V. Stepanets (Eds.) Proceedings in Marine Science / The Ecology of Poole Harbour Edited by J. Humphreys University of Greenwich UK and V.May Bournemouth University UK 2005 ELSEVIER Amsterdam - Boston - Heidelberg - London - New York - Oxford - Paris - San Diego San Francisco - Singapore - Sydney - Tokyo ELSEVIERB.V. ELSEVIER Inc. ELSEVIER Ltd ELSEVIERLtd Radarweg 29 525 B Street, Suite 1900 The Boulevard, Langford Lane 84 Theobalds Road P.O. Box 211, San Diego, Kidlington, London 1000 AE Amsterdam CA 92101 -4495 Oxford OX5 IGB WCIX 8RR The Netherlands USA UK UK © 2005 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved. This work is protected under copyright by Elsevier B.V., and the following terms and conditions apply to its use: Photocopying Single photocopies of single chapters may be made for personal use as allowed by national copyright laws. Permission of the Publisher and payment of a fee is required for all other photocopying, including multiple or systematic copying, copying for advertising or promotional purposes, resale, and all forms of document delivery. 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Notice No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of rapid advances in the medical sciences, in particular, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made. First edition 2005 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record is available from the Library of Congress. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record is available from the British Library. ISBN: 0-444-52064-3 © The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-I992 (Permanence of Paper). Printed in The Netherlands. v Preface Due mainly to its internationally important bird populations, Poole Harbour has, over recent years, accrued various national and European statutory designations. Whilst these populations provide a relatively conspicuous testament to the harbour as a natural environment, they represent only one aspect of its significance in environmental and ecological terms. The harbour’s unique combination of size, hydrological and geomorphological features provide for a rich and productive ecological community. Moreover these same features, in combination with its geographical position on the south coast of England, make it a haven for the naturalization of alien species. In this context, the harbour has been a site for some classic scientific studies, which along with various environmental assessment or monitoring projects and baseline surveys, have added considerably to our knowledge. The need to understand the harbour system, compelling as it is in purely scientific terms, is also necessary as a basis for informed management of the considerable and growing manifestations of human economic activity, and their interactions with this valuable natural resource. In this context, the editors on behalf of the Poole Harbour Study Group, have sought for the first time to collect together in book form, contributions from various researchers working on the harbour in such a way as to provide, as far as is possible, a picture of the ecology of the harbour system as a whole. As such, this book covers all the major habitats from reedbeds and saltmarshes to the extensive mudflats and the sub-littoral, while also examining in some detail a wide range of ecological phenomena and issues. Our indispensable starting point for the assembly of the book was a seminar organized by the Poole Harbour Study Group and held on 12 November 2003 at the premises of the Poole Harbour Commissioners. At this seminar, entitled ‘The Changing Harbour’, nine papers were presented. We are pleased and gratified that all those papers have been written up and now form chapters in this book. In addition to directly providing a substantial part of the book, the seminar had the benefit of generating sufficient interest to enable us to assemble a volume with much more comprehensive coverage than that which could be achieved at a one-day event. Therefore, this book owes its origin above all to those who organized and contributed to that conference and who are appropriately acknowledged on page vi. The Poole Harbour Study Group aims to enhance our understanding by encouraging and co-ordinating research on Poole Harbour. Our hope is that this volume, by providing a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, whole-system picture of the harbour, will help further these aims. John Humphreys Vincent May March 2005 vi Contents Preface v Acknowledgements viii Poole Harbour Study Group ix Contributors xi Introduction:Poole Harbour in Context 1 John Humphreys and Vincent May 1. The Geology of Poole Harbour 9 Andy Gale 2. Geomorphology of Poole Harbour 25 Vincent May 3. Salinity and Tides in Poole Harbour:Estuary or Lagoon? 35 John Humphreys 4. The Vegetation of Poole Harbour 49 Bryan Edwards 5. Physical and Ecological Aspects of the Poole Harbour Reedbeds 61 Kevin Cook 6. History and Ecology of Spartina anglicain Poole Harbour 71 Alan Raybould 7. Macro-invertebrate Fauna in the Intertidal Mudflats 91 Richard Caldow, Selwyn McGrorty, Andrew West, Sara E. A. LeV dit Durell, Richard Stillman and Sheila Anderson 8. Sub-tidal Ecology of Poole Harbour – An Overview 109 Peter Dyrynda 9. Zooplankton Distribution in Poole Harbour 131 Paola Barbuto, Eunice Pinn and Antony Jensen 10. The Important Birds of Poole Harbour:Population Changes Since 1998 139 Bryan Pickess 11. Otters in Poole Harbour 149 Bronwen Bruce Contents vii 12. Non-native Species in and around Poole Harbour 159 John Underhill-Day and Peter Dyrynda 13. The Manila Clam in Poole Harbour 163 Antony Jensen, John Humphreys, Richard Caldow and Chris Cesar 14. Ecological Impacts of Sika Deer on Poole Harbour Saltmarshes 175 Anita Diaz, Eunice Pinn and Justine Hannaford 15. Sika Deer Trampling and Saltmarsh Creek Erosion: Preliminary Investigation 189 Craig House, Vincent May and Anita Diaz 16. Marine Fisheries of Poole Harbour 195 Antony Jenson, Ian Carrier and Neil Richardson 17. Ecological Effects of Pump-scoop Dredging for Cockles on the Intertidal Benthic Community 205 Linda Parker and Eunice Pinn 18. Water Quality and Pollution Monitoring in Poole Harbour 219 Julian Wardlaw 19. Sediment Quality and Benthic Invertebrates in Holes Bay 223 Fiona Bowles and Paul English 20. Macroalgal Mat Development and Associated Changes in Infaunal Biodiversity 231 Eunice Pinn and Martin Jones 21. Predicting Habitat Change in Poole Harbour Using Aerial Photography 239 Katie Born 22. Poole Harbour European Marine Site 255 Helen Powell Conclusion:Science,Development and Management 259 John Humphreys and Vincent May Index 263 viii Acknowledgements We would like to thank all those individuals who put in a considerable amount of effort and commitment on both the organization of the seminar ‘The Changing Harbour’, 12 November 2003, and the subsequent development and publication of this book. These individuals include members of the Poole Harbour Study Group (listed overleaf) but we should acknowledge particularly the work of Maria Pegoraro and the Dorset Environmental Records Centre for taking much of the weight of the organization of the conference along with her colleague, Brian Edwards and Kevin Cook of Fieldwork and Ecological Surveys. Thanks also to Poole Harbour Commissioners for providing space for the conference. Books such as these are entirely dependent on the willingness of authors to submit contributions. We have been particularly fortunate in getting a group of authors whose aggregate experience and knowledge of Poole Harbour is second to none. We are above all grateful to them. All but one of the chapters have been written especially for this book. The exception is chapter 6 ‘History and Ecology of the Cord Grass Spartina anglicain Poole Harbour’by Alan Raybould. We are grateful to him and Judy Lindsay, Director of the Dorset County Museum for permission to reprint, in modified form, the article which was first published in the Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, Volume 119. We are grateful to Infoterra, for the satellite photograph used in the Introduction. Thanks also to the University of Greenwich Marketing Office, in particular Valerie Howe, Peter Birkett and Andrew Beatson for editing, design and production. Also from the University of Greenwich, Avis Brant for a great deal of administrative support in getting the book together. The contents of a book such as this is dependent on an enormous number of individuals and organizations who have contributed in one way or another to the work that is reported in each of the chapters. Such contributions are acknowledged by individual authors as appropriate at the end of each chapter. We would like to add our own thanks to these individuals and organizations. John Humphreys Vincent May Poole Harbour Poole Harbour Study Group Commissioners ix Poole Harbour Study Group Objectives The objectives of the Poole Harbour Study Group (PHSG) are to further the study of the geology, hydrology, ecology, physiography and biological communities, and the monitoring of environmental change in Poole Harbour by: • establishing and maintaining a database of scientific, historical, cultural and other relevant studies of the harbour; • undertaking, promoting, facilitating, co-ordinating and encouraging further studies of the harbour; • establishing an archive of harbour studies and keeping this updated; • facilitating the use of the database and archive by researchers, conservation bodies, statutory bodies, harbour users and others with a bona fide interest in the harbour; • acting as a centre for advice and information on features of local, national and international interest within the harbour; • assisting with or sponsoring meetings and publications on ecological, physiographical or biological aspects of the harbour; • maintaining close links with the Poole Maritime Trust and other bodies with an interest in the harbour environment. Membership Sue Burton English Nature Richard Caldow Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Kevin Cook (Vice Chairman) Fieldwork and Ecological Surveys John Day Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Anita Diaz Bournemouth University Peter Dyrynda University of Wales Bryan Edwards Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC) Neil Gartshore Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) George Green Environment Agency Geoff Hann National Trust Tegwyn Harris Hatherley Laboratories John Humphreys University of Greenwich Antony Jensen Southampton Oceanography Centre Vincent May (Chair) Bournemouth University Stephen Morrison Ecological Field Research and Estate Management Maria Pegoraro Dorset Environmental Records Centre (DERC) Angela Peters National Trust Bryan Pickess Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Eunice Pinn Joint Nature Conservation Committee Sally Porter Poole Harbour Commissioners