Benthic State and Change in UK Marine Waters. Benthic Sampling in the North Sea, Irish Sea and the English Channel 2000-2007

Sampling of the biological and physical characteristics of 155 stations in the English Channel, Celtic Seas and the North Sea. This dataset contains details of the abundance of macrofauna found at each of the 155 sample stations collected between 2000 and 2007. Environmental variables quantified for each station included bathymetry (except North Sea and western Scotland), stratification, bottom temperature and a number of derived granulometric parameters (e.g., % silt, % gravel, sorting coefficient, skewness, kurtosis), together with modelled parameters such as bed tidal stress, wave stress, bottom temperature, a stratification index and satellite-derived surface chlorophyll a (mean values for 2002-07 used). Estimates of the benthic productivity associated with such communities were also derived, for the first time, at this large spatial scale.