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The use of Puccinellia maritima in salt marsh monitoring
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2011
Synopsis
This programme was intended to assess the environmental health of the Sullom Voe salt marshes and, if any deterioration proved to have occurred, to suggest whether activities at the oil terminal could have been responsible.
The main study has been in the growth of the important halophytic grass Puccinellia maritima as measured by tiller/stolon elongation. This has been used as a measure of salt marsh vitality.
The salt marshes within Sullom Voe have suffered statistically significant declines in plant vigour in the detailed study areas over the period 1976 to 1987 (accompanied by local erosion and deterioration of the marsh edges), in contrast to comparable sites outside Sullom Voe, which have shown no overall decline. All sites however have shown conspicuous and loosely synchronised variations in tiller/stolon length, which may be explained in part by changes in sea level.
Although some local damage to sites can be attributed to oil-related activities, no cause can be identified for the wider deterioration within Sullom Voe because of the absence of data on factors which might be inhibiting grass growth. This problem in identifying causes is a serious weakness in monitoring programmes which use plant performance to assay changes.
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- Part Two
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- Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1995
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