The biodiversity of animals and plants on rocky shores and in subtidal kelp-beds is vast, complex and variable in space and time. It is very different on many artificial hard surfaces (pilings, sea-walls, etc.) from that on natural rocky shores. As a result, it is necessary to find ways to change the construction of these essential infrastructural developments to enhance their capacity to provide suitable habitat for the natural fauna and flora of our coast-line. We have many research projects on this topic.

There are also very special intertidal habitats - boulder-fields - that are constantly threatened by human interference, notably recreational fishermen and harvesters of intertidal species for food. These boulder habitats are homes for numerous rare invertebrates not found anywhere else in the world. As a result, the Centre is doing research on ways to create or restore these habitats. Research is also being done to determine how such habitats might be built to replace those lost by rising sea-level due to the global warming cause by the "Greenhouse effect". (See also Programme 2, Theme 2A).

For further information, see the following publications

Chapman, M. G. (2007). Colonization of novel habitat: tests of generality of patterns in a diverse invertebrate assemblage. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Vol. 348, pp. 97-110.