Keystone Ecology
Keystone Habitats
Keystone – making ecology our business
Keystone Marine
Our marine ecological consultancy services include seabed, intertidal and sub-tidal surveys, seabed sampling, biotope surveys and mapping, marine mammal and bird surveys, plankton, fish and benthic surveys, GIS Mapping, Ecological Impact Assessment and the design and implementation of Mitigation, Monitoring and Management Plans.
Strategic Habitats Regulations Assessment
Somerset County Council
Tendering through our framework contract with Somerset County Council (SCC) Keystone Ecology won the contract to ascertain the use by aquatic invertebrates of un-worked peat areas in the proximity of the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar site since changes to current use of the un-worked peat areas may have significant effects on the conservation objectives of the Ramsar site.
The results of the survey will inform an Appropriate Assessment under The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 of the Minerals Core strategy.
We assessed habitat suitability of ditchlines at five sites totalling 1,166 hectares across the peat moors before selecting a range of sample points to which we applied the aquatic invertebrate survey methodology described in Godfrey, A. 1999. Aquatic Invertebrate Survey of the Somerset Levels and Moors 1999. Taunton: English Nature. Our surveyors used Global Positioning System (GPS) handsets to accurately map each sample point.