There is a requirement within the Habitats Directive (Article 17) for Member State governments to report to the EC on the favourable conservation status of the habitats and species which SACs (and SPAs) will assist in conserving. In addition to this reporting role, it is likely that a monitoring programme will be developed for each SAC to assess the effectiveness of the management scheme in achieving the conservation objectives. It should allow the management scheme to be reviewed, and where necessary, revised.

This chapter will review the methods that are available for monitoring the distribution and status of eelgrass beds within an SAC, and briefly describe how some of these techniques have been applied to particular sites. A number of techniques also exist for determining the physiological state of Zostera plants, with particular respect to the degree of sublethal stess to which the plants are exposed. These are briefly outlined in Section C.

Monitoring Requirements

Biotope Monitoring Techniques

Measurable Indicators of Environmental Stress in Zostera

Zostera Biotope Monitoring in the UK: Some Examples

References