A suite of measurements will be needed such as grain size distributions, carbonate content in various size fractions, redox potential and a range of measures of organic content. Chemical measures may be needed of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus contents of the sediment. Consideration needs to be given to finding ways of determining how much of the sediment is faecal deposits and how much is suspended material carried in over the bed during spring tides or storms.

Tidal flows may need to be measured at the designated beds as it may be difficult to extrapolate from Tidal Stream Atlas data. It would be of fundamental interest to know more about the details of the turbulent flows across horse mussel beds and hence the water mass available for filtration. Measurements of seston on the upstream and downstream sides of the bed could be compared.

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