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Life's a beach

24 August 2004

Issued by the Natural Environment Research Council on behalf of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory are developing new methods to rapidly assess the biodiversity of living organisms on beaches and other marine environments. They have already found many new creatures which have not been classified in previous studies.

The research is part of a programme called RAMBLERS (Rapid Assessment of Marine Biodiversity Linked to Environmental Remediation Studies.) One of the objectives is to create a comprehensive inventory of marine plants and animals. The research, funded by Defra, also investigates how elements of the flora and fauna within this small community can be used as a representative sample for total biodiversity.

Current and historical data will be incorporated into new statistical software to predict the future distribution of life over large areas and long timescales. They will help to distinguish between natural biodiversity changes and those that are due to human activities, such as fishing, dredging, and oil and gas exploration.

The Plymouth scientists have collected hundreds of species in just a few buckets of sand taken from a beach on the Isles of Scilly, an ideal location for biodiversity studies as the marine environment there is relatively clean and undisturbed.

Marine scientist Dr Paul Somerfield from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said, "Most of these new species are microscopic worms and shrimps, too small to be seen with the naked eye. It is truly amazing just how little we really know about the marine environment and the biodiversity it supports, even in familiar places where many studies have been done before."

Head of Marine Science R&D, Paul Leonard, said, "Defra needs successful tools to determine biodiversity. I am delighted that we have been able to make such positive progress. The researchers have a good track record of determining environmental quality at pristine and historically contaminated sites. This is of great benefit to Defra when we are drawing up licensing conditions."

Further information

Patricia Mariotte
PML Newsdesk
Tel: 01752 633437
Mob: 0781 840 2632

Defra press office
Tel: 0207 238 5334

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. Defra (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) has provided £185.8 thousand over 4 years for the RAMBLERS project. This work is part of Plymouth Marine Laboratory's core research programme, supported by the Natural Environment Research Council, which looks at scaling biodiversity and the consequences of change.

2. The new software developed at PML for analysing the biodiversity information is marketed through a commercial spin-out company Primer-e Ltd.

3. The Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) is an independent multidisciplinary marine research centre. PML's research programme feeds into national strategies to deliver knowledge and solutions for both government and other public sector bodies. The PML Innovation & Partnerships programme is aimed at exploiting our knowledge, know-how and research outputs for the wider community and industry.

Press release: 27/04

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