Saturday 26 April 2014

Examples of littoral rock habitats:

Habitat classifications use the associations between reoccurring groups of organisms, substrate type and wave exposure to describe variations in the communities found on the shore.

In the posts that follow are images of habitats based on the JNCC habitat classification hierarchy with a brief description of each, with emphasis on rocky shores.

One of the major subdivisions of the habitat classification hierarchy the characterization of rocky habitats based on the level of wave exposure experienced by the rock, which ranges from high to low energy. 

The images below show examples of high energy littoral rock, moderate energy littoral rock and low energy littoral rock:

High energy littoral rock (LR.HLR)

Moderate energy littoral rock (LR.MLR)

Low energy littoral rock (LR.LLR)

There is an additional divide to capture specific physical or temporal features within rocky communities that can occur across wave exposures. These habitats come under the habitat Features of littoral rock (LR.FLR). Such features include rockpools, caves and ephemeral seaweeds.


Rockpool habitats would come under the broad habitat features of littoral rock (LR.FLR)

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