Habitat point records from 1990 MNCR Loch Tarbert (Jura) survey
type: Dataset
description: Loch Tarbert deeply bisects the south Hebridean island of Jura. It is a relatively small and shallow fiordic loch, some 11 km in length and 43 m at its deepest point. The loch is divided into three basins by the shallow narrows of Cumhann Mor and Cumhann Beag, the latter a very long and tortuous channel. The outer basin, subject to Atlantic swells and exposured to wave action, contrasts with the extremely sheltered and brackish inner basin. There are only weak tidal currents throughout much of the loch, but much stronger currents run through each of the narrows. Despite its proximity to mainland Scotland, and in contrast to most other Scottish lochs, Loch Tarbert is almost completely undeveloped. Only two houses lie beside its shores and the surrounding mountainous land is almost entirely given over to Jura's extensive population of deer. At present there is little mariculture or fishing activity within the loch. The loch was previously surveyed by Smith (1982) and Hiscock (1983) for the Nature Conservancy Council. The present survey, in 1990, complements these earlier surveys and contributes to the MNCR Survey of Scottish sealochs, which is being undertaken jointly by the MNCR and the University Marine Biological Station, Millport. The results from all three surveys have been incorporated here. In all nine shore sites and 19 sublittoral sites have been surveyed, From the data four littoral and 12 sublittoral habitat/community types are described, and 516 taxa listed. The shores were predominantly rocky and covered by fucoid algae. Within the two narrows enhanced currents yielded rich lower shore communities of sponges, hydroids and ascidians. The more exposed shores in the outer basin were not examined. The sediment shores supported populations of the lugworm Arenicola marina and the cockle Cerastoderma edule. Some extremely sheltered embayments had patches of the eelgrass Zostera nana and the unattached knotted wrack Ascophyllum nodosum ecad mackaii. In the sublit…
issued: 2015-12-15T20:16:53.656639
modified: 2018-05-17T12:23:17.455477
spatial: Location
  geometry: {"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-5.850427192, 55.9472636],[-5.850427192, 55.99770413], [-6.021692758, 55.99770413], [-6.021692758, 55.9472636], [-5.850427192, 55.9472636]]]}

Joint Nature Conservation Committee
type: Organization

1990-MNCR-Loch-Tarbert-Jura-survey.csv
type: Distribution
description: Resource locator
access URL: http://data.jncc.gov.uk/data/f5191ae0-cabe-411f-bb64-251efc7fa178-1990-MNCR-Loch-Tarbert-Jura-survey.csv
issued: 2016-06-22T09:25:46.500354
modified: 2016-06-22T09:25:46.500354