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E 7—
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MHWS
MHWN
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co 4 —
= o S urvey area
a) 3 —
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MLWN
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MLWS
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x 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Distance from low water mark (m)
Figure 1.3 : Profile of Drum Sands in relation to height above chart datum, showing
the position of the study area.
All the sampling was carried out within the 250x400m study area shown in Figure 1.2,
just above mean low water neap tide level (Figure 1.3). This location was chosen
since preliminary sampling revealed that P. elegans patches occurred in this region
and that the sedimentary conditions were relatively constant. The tide covers the
whole survey area in about 15 minutes (spring tide) so tidal effects on species
distributions can essentially be ignored.
Very little macrobenthic data were available for Drum Sands. The sandflat is not
monitored by the FRPB and the area has not previously been used for benthic studies.
Stephen (1929) reported a Cerastoderma edule community on Drum Sands, but his
samples were taken near Barnbougle Castle where the sediments are quite different
from those found within the present study area.
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