NatureScot Commissioned Report 1007: A revision of invertebrate features of designated sites in Scotland

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are designated on the basis of notified features. For invertebrates, notified features may refer to individual species, assemblages of a specific taxon, or the overall invertebrate assemblage.

Invertebrates’ notified features don’t always reflect the current criteria for selecting such features for site protection and designation purposes. Citations may be based on old records now seen as unreliable. Or records may not show that species or assemblages are of sufficient quality to meet the criteria.

This project set out to revise and update all 241 invertebrate features of SSSIs in Scotland (which relate to 158 SSSIs).

Each feature was assessed to determine:

• whether it is a qualifying feature under current criteria
• whether the feature could be better defined
• how it should be monitored for site condition monitoring purposes (for qualifying features only)

A check was also made to see if any invertebrate features that were qualifying features were not on the list of notified features.

The project outputs can be used to help prioritise and implement field programmes for site condition monitoring purposes.

Pages: 175
Published: 2017

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