Irish Sea Coast Research Articles

Century‐scale loss and change in the fishes and fisheries of a temperate marine ecosystem revealed by qualitative historical sources

AbstractPolicies aiming to restore ecosystems, achieve thriving fisheries and reverse biodiversity loss require knowledge of their former status and long‐term variation. As quantitative fish data is typically only available for recent decades long after changes may have occurred, a greater use of qualitative sources has been encouraged in marine historical ecology. We examined diverse historical information (including maritime history, fisheries reports, naturalists' accounts, recipes, nautical charts and newspapers) across a multi‐century time span (13th–20th century) for a wide range of species to document their long‐term trajectories in an understudied Northeast Atlantic ecosystem (Irish Sea coast of Wales). We find strong evidence of the loss of both a pelagic fishery for herring, which was of fundamental socio‐ecological importance since at least the 13th century, and the loss of significant multi‐species demersal and intertidal fisheries. Local, commercial and/or functional extinction has occurred for taxa spanning a wide range of diversity (crustacean, elasmobranchs, sturgeon, and teleosts), body size and ecological role, suggesting far‐reaching changes to food webs. This raises fundamental questions about the present‐day health and integrity of this coastal ecosystem and the long‐term viability of current fisheries which depend on a few shellfish species. Our century‐scale synthesis of qualitative data for multiple taxa allows the collective breadth of losses to be fully appreciated and may reduce the risk of ‘shifting baselines’. Restoration to historical baselines may not be achievable, but our findings provide evidence of long‐term change relevant to policies for recovery, and prevention of further decline of fishes, fisheries and ecosystems.

The transfer of irradiated uranium from the Irish Sea coast to the terrestrial environment in Cumbria, UK

Abstract Sea-to-land transfer of irradiated uranium in soil samples was measured along a transect from the Cumbrian coast south of the Windscale Sellafield nuclear site in a NE direction across the Cumbrian coastal plain. Soluble uranium components were extracted by ion exchange chromatography and ratios 236U:238U and 235U:238U were measured using multi-collector ICP-MS. The method employed demonstrated the utility of 236U ratio measurements for the determination of irradiated uranium in environmental samples. The results produced for uranium were like those that have been reported for other fission product and nuclear fuel components that have been shown to be marine in origin. Measured 236U levels were highest close to the seashore and decreased rapidly as an exponential function of distance. The results indicated the absence of depleted uranium, such as might result from the deposition of aerosols generated by the testing of DU munitions at the nearby Eskmeals firing range in all but one sample.

Boring in vein: a new direction in ichnological research

Unusual conjunctions of geological phenomena in the modern environment may alert us to their potential presence in the rock record. Two erratics of Carboniferous limestone from the beach at Cleveleys on the Irish Sea coast, Lancashire, northern England bored by sponges and polychaete worms, are suggestive of potential occurrences of borings in ancient conglomerates. Such distinctive patterns of boring, commoner in crystalline veins than in limestone, are certainly unfamiliar. But borers are well‐known for invading crystalline organic substrates, such as belemnites and oysters.

Footprint beds record Holocene decline in large mammal diversity on the Irish Sea coast of Britain.

Long-term monitoring along the Irish Sea coast of Britain at Formby has identified hundreds of animal and human footprints in 31 discrete sediment beds. A new programme of radiocarbon dating shows that the Formby footprints span at least 8,000 years of the Holocene Epoch from the Mesolithic period to Medieval times. In a landscape largely devoid of conventional archaeology and faunal records, we show how species data from the footprint stratigraphy document long-term change in both large mammal diversity and human behaviour. The footprint beds record shifting community structure in the native fauna through an era of profound global change. As sea levels rose rapidly in the Early Holocene, men, women and children formed part of rich Mesolithic intertidal ecosystems from ~9,000 to 6,000 cal BP, with aurochs, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, beaver, wolf and lynx. Doggerland was reclaimed by the sea in this period. In the agriculture-based societies that followed, after 5,500 cal BP human footprints dominate the Neolithic period and later beds, alongside a striking fall in large mammal species richness. Stacked footprint beds can form multimillennial records of ecosystem change with precise geographical context that cannot be retrieved from site-based fossil bone assemblages.

Using local ecological knowledge to inform semi-quantitative fishery surveillance indicators: an example in marine recreational angling

AbstractSmall scale and recreational fisheries often lack quantitative monitoring, highlighting potential for other reproducible ways of understanding state. The Fisher's Local Ecological Knowledge Surveillance Indicator (FLEKSI) method was developed here to express user's LEK as semi-quantitative fishery SI. FLEKSI was tested using an online questionnaire disseminated in 2021 to capture angler's knowledge of changing marine recreational fisheries around Ireland (Celtic Seas ecoregion). Sets of Likert questions evaluated four fishery descriptors (species, community, catch, and effort). Respondents were asked to report the subregion (Irish Sea, Celtic Sea, or West Coast) in which they usually fish, and the duration (y) of their angling “career.” Likert scores were reported as diverging bar charts, providing SI values that could be evaluated at different spatial or temporal scales. Respondents (N = 657) reported careers of up to > 41 years. ICES assessments of Celtic Seas demersal fish stocks targeted by anglers provide series of SSB/SSBBtrigger against which the FLEKSI SI were compared. FLEKSI suggested long term decline in all four fishery descriptors, and statistical analysis showed that this trend matched ICES assessment outputs averaged across target stocks of cod, pollack, whiting, and sea bass. FLEKSI provides a standardized framework for integrating user's ways of knowing into fishery monitoring.

Fast post-mortem encrustation of razor shells: examples from the Irish Sea and palaeontological implications

Instructive taphonomic principles are demonstrated by the skeletons of dead invertebrates. Bivalves have resistant skeletons and are common fossils. The thin-valved razor shells, Ensis spp., have a good fossil record despite being fragile. This may be due, in part, to rapid post-mortem encrustation of valves by mineralized invertebrates. Two Recent specimens of Ensis siliqua (Linnaeus), encrusted post-mortem, are described from the Irish Sea coast of Southport, Merseyside. An articulated shell with an intact ligament is encrusted posteriorly on all surfaces by the balanid Balanus crenatus Brugiére. Barnacles inside the shell are smaller than those externally, yet may represent the same spatfall; those inside were constrained by growing in an enclosed space. To a palaeontologist, a mollusc valve encrusted inside and out by cementing organisms would be interpreted as having had a long residence time on the seafloor. This specimen demonstrates the disjunction between loss of soft tissues (days?) and loss of the ligament (weeks, perhaps months), between which encrusters may settle inside the shell, early in its post-mortem history. Similar patterns of encrustation by balanids are now known two species of Ensis and the cockle Cerastoderma edule (Linnaeus). A fragment of a single valve is encrusted only on the internal surface by serpulids and bryozoans. This is balanulith-like, but is only encrusted on the inner surface and not by balanids. Ensis valves can be reinforced by a range of calcareous encrusting organisms; an Ensis fragment encrusted both inside and out by serpulids would be worthy of being named a serpulith.

Geomorphological and ecological change in a coastal foreland dune system, Sandscale haws, Cumbria, UK: the management challenges posed by climate change

Many coastal sand dune systems in the UK and other parts of the world have experienced a decline in bare sand extent and dune mobility over the past 70 years, accompanied by increased coverage of coarse grass, scrub and woodland vegetation. This has raised concerns amongst nature conservationists about the survival of dune specialist species. Opinions are divided, however, regarding what management interventions should be made to counteract these trends. This paper reviews the factors which have contributed to progressive dune system stabilization at Sandscale Haws, located on the Irish Sea coast in Northwest England, considers the implications for the site of UKCP18 future climate change projections, and discusses the options and plans for future adaptive management. Analaysis of aerial photographs indicated a large reduction in bare sand area between 1946 and 1988 (from >34% to 9% of the dune system), since when there has been a further decline to 1.7%. Consideration of the evidence suggests that a trend towards a warmer, slightly wetter and less windy climate has been the main driver of stabilization, although atmospheric nitrogen deposition, increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, reduced grazing intensity, reduced human disturbance from the mid-1980s onwards and a tendency for shoreline progradation on the west-facing coast have played contributing roles. Some species characteristic of open habitats can still be found in good numbers in parts of the dune system, but without increased management it is likely they will decline further and some may become locally extinct. Since the site is of national and international importance for a number of nationally scarce plant and animal species it is considered that there is both a legal and an ethical duty to attempt to maintain suitable habitat for their survival. As a National Nature Reserve Sandscale Haws provides a suitable ‘natural laboratory’ within which to research the effectiveness of different intervention methods. A number of small-scale dune rejuvenation methods have been trialled since 2015, and options for larger scale interventions, including turf stripping and possible dune notching, are currently being evaluated as part of the nation-wide Dynamic Dunescapes project.

Role of trait combinations, habitat matrix, and network topology in metapopulation recovery from regional extinction

AbstractWe studied the role of oceanographic conditions and life history strategies on recovery after extinction in a metapopulation of marine organisms dispersing as pelagic larvae. We combined an age‐structured model with scenarios defined by realistic oceanographic conditions and species distribution along the Irish Sea coast (North Europe). Species life history strategies were modeled combining the dispersal behaviors with two levels of fecundity. Recovery times were quantified after simulating extinction in four regions. Two alternative strategies (high fecundity or larval tidal transport) led to short recovery times, irrespective of the effects of other drivers. Other strategies and low larval survival exacerbated the effects of oceanographic conditions on recovery times: longer times were associated with for example the presence of frontal zones isolating regions of extinction. Recovery times were well explained by the connectivity of each focal population with those located outside the area of extinction (which was higher in the so‐called small world topologies), but not by subsidies (direct connections with populations located nearby). Our work highlights the complexities involved in population recovery: specific trait combinations may blur the effects of the habitat matrix on recovery times; K‐strategists (i.e., with low fecundities) may achieve quick recovery if they possess the appropriate dispersal traits. High larval mortality can exacerbate the effect of oceanographic conditions and lead to heterogeneity in recovery times. Overall, processes driving whole network topologies rather than conditions surrounding local populations are the key to understand patterns of recovery.

New record of the rare genus Crinalium Crow (Oscillatoriales, Cyanobacteria) from sand dunes of the Baltic Sea, Germany: epitypification and emendation of Crinalium magnum Fritsch et John based on an integrative approach

Representatives of the Gomontiellaceae (Oscillatoriales) are rare and hence unstudied cyanobacteria with unusual morphology, distributed in terrestrial and aquatic habitats all over the world. Investigation of the group based on an integrative approach is only beginning, and to understand the actual biodiversity and ecology, a greater number of cultivated strains is necessary. However, some ecological traits of these cyanobacteria (e.g. low population densities, the absence of conspicuous growth in nature) led to methodological difficulties during isolation in culture. One species in the family Gomontiellaceae, Crinalium magnum Fritsch et John, is characterized by prominent wide and flattened trichomes, and represented by the non-authentic strain SAG 34.87. Detailed previous investigation of this strain clearly showed its morphological discrepancy with the original description of C. magnum and the genus Crinalium in general. The new isolate from maritime sand dunes of the Baltic Sea coast (Germany), however, revealed morphological characters completely corresponding with the diagnosis of C. magnum. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA sequences indicated a position of the new strain inside Gomontiellaceae. Both morphology and ultrastructure of the strain are congruous with characters of the family. Epitypification and emendation of C. magnum are proposed since the ecology and habitat of the original strain are congruent with the type locality of this rare species (sand, Irish Sea coast, North Wales, UK). We expanded the description of C. magnum by details of the filament development and specified dimensional ranges for trichomes and cells, as well as by new data about the transversely striated structure of mucilaginous sheath.

Viral dispersal in the coastal zone: A method to quantify water quality risk

Waterborne and shellfish-borne enteric viruses associated with wastewater-polluted coastal waters (e.g. Norovirus, Hepatitis A/E viruses, Adenovirus) represent a major threat to human health. Improved understanding of the locations and periods of heightened risks can help target mitigation measures and improve public health. We developed a river-estuary-coast model to simulate virus dispersal, driven by point source discharges and river flows in combination with tidal forcing. Viral inputs were based on measured wastewater adenovirus concentrations and the model was implemented with or without viral die-off. We applied the model to the Conwy river (North Wales, UK), through the estuary, to the Irish Sea coast where bathing waters and shellfisheries are known to be prone to viral contamination. Using a suite of scenarios, we showed that river flow was the primary control of viral export to the coast. Since the Conwy catchment is short and steep, and the estuary is small and river-dominated, short-duration high intensity ‘flash floods’ were shown to transport viruses through the estuary and out to sea, despite dilution or die-off effects. Duplicating flow events (i.e., storm clustering) did not double the virus export since the virus re-entered the estuary on the flood tide. The tidal magnitude and timing of high water relative to peak river flow were also important drivers regulating viral dispersal. A worst-case event simulation (i.e., combining high river flows with high viral loading and high spring tide) resulted in increased concentrations of virus at nearby coasts, although the spatial spread was similar to the previous scenarios. Our results suggest that impact models for predicting and mitigating episodes of poor microbiological water quality may require careful representation of the intensity and timings of river flow when evaluating pathogen exposure risk.

The last ice sheet in Western Scotland during Greenland Interstade 1: Integrating the onshore and offshore records

Sedimentary sequences deposited by the decaying marine margin of the British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) record isostatic depression and successive ice sheet retreat towards centres of ice dispersion. Radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) of in situ marine microfaunas that are commonly associated with these sequences constrain the timing of glacial and sea level fluctuations during the last deglaciation, enabling us to evaluate the dynamics of the BIIS and its response to North Atlantic climate change. Here we use our radiocarbon-dated stratigraphy to define six major glacial and sea level events since the Last Glacial Maximum. (1) Initial deglaciation may have occurred ⩾18.3 kyr 14C BP along the northwestern Irish coast, in agreement with a deglacial age of ∼22 36Cl kyr BP for southwestern Ireland. Ice retreated to inland centres and areas of transverse moraine began to form across the north Irish lowlands. (2) Channels cut into glaciomarine deglacial sediments along the western Irish Sea coast are graded to below present sea level, identifying a fall of relative sea level (RSL) in response to isostatic emergence of the coast. (3) Marine mud that rapidly infilled these channels records an abrupt rise in global sea level of 10–15 m ∼16.7 14C kyr BP that flooded the Irish Sea coast and may have triggered deglaciation of a marine-based margin in Donegal Bay. (4) Intertidal boulder pavements in Dundalk Bay indicate that RSL ∼15.0 14C kyr BP was similar to present. (5) A major readvance of all sectors of the BIIS occurred between 14 and 15 kyr 14C BP which overprinted subglacial transverse moraines and delivered a substantial sediment flux to tidewater ice sheet margins. This event, the Killard Point Stadial, indicates that the BIIS participated in Heinrich event 1. (6) Subsequent deposition of marine muds on drumlins 12.7 14C kyr BP indicates isostatic depression and attendant high RSL resulting from the Killard Point readvance. These events identify a dynamic BIIS during the last deglaciation, as well as significant changes in RSL that reflect a combination of isostatic loading and eustatic changes in global sea level.

Management history and climate as key factors driving natterjack toad population trends in Britain

Along with other amphibian populations in Europe and elsewhere, natterjack toad Bufo calamita populations in Britain have declined since at least 1960. Conservation management since the 1970s has aimed to halt the decline and maintain viable populations at key sites throughout the species' recent historical range. Here, we assess population trends from 1985 to 2006 at 20 British B. calamita sites and evaluate the role of active management in maintaining good conservation status. We investigated the effects of 25 climatic, site-characteristic and conservation management variables on population trends using general linear models. In single-variable analyses, rainfall variables showed negative relationships with population trends. Among the site characteristics, being located at the very edge of the species' range (northern Irish Sea coast) and occurrence of common toad (B. bufo) were negatively related to B. calamita population trends. Management history (populations established via translocation as opposed to native populations) had a significant positive effect; as had sites that received greater translocation releases, undergone Species Recovery Programme management, and where common toad was absent. In multiple-variable analyses, the combined effects of management history and average pre-breeding season rainfall accounted for inter-site variation in population trends. The rainfall effects in single- and multiple-variable analyses were strongly influenced by three sites with very high rainfall whilst no clear effect was apparent for the remaining sites. This study highlights the role of climatic factors in population decline, and the importance of conservation management in stabilizing population trends. Climate change over the next 50–100 years is predicted to have limited impacts on most B. calamita populations in Britain, but strongly positive impacts on the most threatened populations located at the very edge of species' range that will benefit from reduced precipitation. A need for active conservation management will remain for the foreseeable future.

Genetic characterization of hybrid mussel (Mytilus) populations on Irish coasts

The blue mussel,Mytilus edulis, and the Mediterranean mussel,Mytilus galloprovincialis, occur widely over much of northern Europe, and wherever they are sympatric they hybridize. The hybrid zone is large, ranging from western France to the north of Scotland, and is spatially complex, containing a mixture of pure, hybrid and introgressed individuals. Results from an Irish study in 1981, using partially diagnostic allozyme markers, indicated that mussels on the Irish Sea coast were solelyM. edulis, but on Atlantic wave-exposed shores, and to a much lesser extent on wave-protected shores, mussels comprised an interbreeding mixture ofM. edulisandM. galloprovincialis. In this study mussels were analysed from 20 locations on Irish coasts, using theMe15/16nuclear DNA marker. The results showed a high frequency ofM. galloprovincialis(0.378 ± 0.198) and hybrid (0.429 ± 0.175) genotypes, and correspondingly low frequencies of theM. edulisgenotype (0.194 ± 0.107) at both exposed and sheltered locations on Atlantic coasts, indicating no apparent advantage for theM. edulisgenotype at wave-protected sites.Mytilus galloprovincialiswas virtually absent from the Irish Sea. Mussels in this area may be a self-recruiting population ofM. edulisdue to thermal front development at the northern and southern entrances to the Irish Sea in late spring, thereby preventing an influx of spring-spawnedMytiluslarvae. The apparent change in the genetic composition of mussels on Atlantic coasts since the early 1980s could be related to climate change, or to aquaculture practice in Ireland whereby mussels from exposed shores are used to seed ropes in wave-protected bays and estuaries.

Leukaemia incidence in Welsh children linked with low level radiation—making sense ofsome erroneous results published in the media

A series of self-published epidemiological reports purporting to show a major excess risk ofleukaemia in pre-school children living near the Irish Sea coast of Wales have beenpresented in the media as evidence of the harmful effects of low level radiation arising fromSellafield. The Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit (WCISU), the bodyresponsible for population-based cancer information in Wales, can provide insightsinto the validity of these reports, which appear to be a consequence of variousmistakes. This raises important questions about the research governance of suchreports and the communication of scientific findings via the mass media. Withoutsuitable safeguards the media are in danger of promulgating misinformation.

Rapid coastal survey for targeted alien species associated with floating pontoons in Ireland

Twenty alien species were targeted in a rapid assessment of all Irish coasts during 2005 to 2006 at twenty-nine floating pontoon sites consisting of marinas, jetties or fish-farms. Twelve species were found and the survey provided twenty-five new locality records. Four species had not been recorded previously in Ireland. Three of these were tunicates Corella eumyota, Botrylloides violaceus and a cryptogenic Didemnum sp. The fourth species was not targeted, the amphipod Monocorophium insidiosum. The majority of the new locality records (67%) were from the Irish Sea coast. Some of the targeted species were removed from leisure craft hulls: Balanus improvisus, C. eumyota, Corophium mutica, Didemnum sp. and Styela clava.

AMS 14C dating of deglacial events in the Irish Sea Basin and other sectors of the British–Irish ice sheet

Sedimentary sequences deposited by the decaying marine margin of the British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) record isostatic depression and successive ice sheet retreat towards centres of ice dispersion. Radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) of in situ marine microfaunas that are commonly associated with these sequences constrain the timing of glacial and sea level fluctuations during the last deglaciation, enabling us to evaluate the dynamics of the BIIS and its response to North Atlantic climate change. Here we use our radiocarbon-dated stratigraphy to define six major glacial and sea level events since the Last Glacial Maximum. (1) Initial deglaciation may have occurred ⩾18.3 kyr 14C BP along the northwestern Irish coast, in agreement with a deglacial age of ∼22 36Cl kyr BP for southwestern Ireland. Ice retreated to inland centres and areas of transverse moraine began to form across the north Irish lowlands. (2) Channels cut into glaciomarine deglacial sediments along the western Irish Sea coast are graded to below present sea level, identifying a fall of relative sea level (RSL) in response to isostatic emergence of the coast. (3) Marine mud that rapidly infilled these channels records an abrupt rise in global sea level of 10–15 m ∼16.7 14C kyr BP that flooded the Irish Sea coast and may have triggered deglaciation of a marine-based margin in Donegal Bay. (4) Intertidal boulder pavements in Dundalk Bay indicate that RSL ∼15.0 14C kyr BP was similar to present. (5) A major readvance of all sectors of the BIIS occurred between 14 and 15 kyr 14C BP which overprinted subglacial transverse moraines and delivered a substantial sediment flux to tidewater ice sheet margins. This event, the Killard Point Stadial, indicates that the BIIS participated in Heinrich event 1. (6) Subsequent deposition of marine muds on drumlins 12.7 14C kyr BP indicates isostatic depression and attendant high RSL resulting from the Killard Point readvance. These events identify a dynamic BIIS during the last deglaciation, as well as significant changes in RSL that reflect a combination of isostatic loading and eustatic changes in global sea level.

The Vikings in Southern Uí Néill until 1014

This paper provides a brief survey of Viking influence in Southern Uí Néill to 1014. The evidence highlights the resilience of both churches and polities in the face of Viking attacks, compared to the Vikings’ impact in England. Viking settlement and territorial power was limited to areas near the Irish Sea coast, and various strategies were employed to limit the impact of Viking attacks. Nevertheless, Vikings exercised a strong impact on the political and economic history of the region. Prior to the battle of Clontarf, Brian Boru and Mael Sechnaill overking of Uí Néill vied for control over the resources of Dublin. This competition was reflected both in events and in political propaganda.

The protective effect of lichens and the origin of modern bulge‐like traces on weakly lithified sandstones (Hilbre islands, Wirral Peninsula, Great Britain)

Traces of lichens from modern sandstone surfaces of the Hilbre Islands (NW England Irish Sea coast) resulted from the protective effect of the vegetation cover on subaerial rock surface. The lichens protect the sandstone from salt erosion: as the lichen grows, the protected area enlarges and a bulge‐like trace (often showing a characteristic lobation) is formed.

Anthropogenic radionuclides in tide-washed pastures bordering the Irish Sea coast of England and Wales

The activity concentrations of 137Cs,238 Pu, 239,240Pu and 241Am were measured in root mat and vegetation samples collected from tide washed pastures in 17 estuaries spanning the eastern seaboard of the Irish Sea, extending from the Solway in north-west England to St. David's Head in south Wales. Some of these estuaries had been investigated in previous surveys, but this study is unique in that it covered a wide geographic range using the same sampling and analytical methodology and within a comparatively short time scale. This allows for a valid comparison within the data set of the contamination levels at the different areas. Spatial distributions of the radionuclides were consistent with transport of radionuclides discharged to the Irish Sea from the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, with the highest activities occurring in the Esk estuary (closest to Sellafield) and lowest at the Welsh sites. Measurable activity concentrations of238 Pu and 239,240Pu were found in root mat samples from the Solway estuary to as far south as the Gwyrfai in Wales and showed an average238 Pu/239,240Pu ratio of 0.2, consistent with Sellafield-derived Pu. The ratios of137 Cs/241Am increased with distance from the source, with values of 1:1 in estuaries near Sellafield to ratios between 2 and 5 in estuaries further south and in excess of 10:1 in Wales. This is probably due to the more rapid movement of dissolved137 Cs in Irish Sea waters compared with the actinides. In contrast, 241Am and 239,240Pu behave similarly with consistent ratios of between 2:1 and 3:1, as both are associated with particulates. Dose assessment calculations suggest that external exposure would be a maximum of 530 µSv at the most contaminated spot at the Esk estuary. Relatively lower doses arise from the ingestion of animal products (along the soil-vegetation-grazing animal pathway) due to the low availability of sediment-associated radionuclides for gut transfer. The dose assessment calculations highlight the importance of using the appropriate transfer parameters that take into account this low bioavailability.

Distributions of chlorinated biphenyls in mussels and sediments from Great Britain and the Irish Sea Coast

Distributions of chlorinated biphenyls in mussels and sediments from Great Britain and the Irish Sea Coast