This dataset contains predicted seahorse habitat distributions for two species
(Hippocampus hippocampus and H. guttulatus) and the genus combined
(Hippocampus hippocampus MAXENT.asc, Hippocampus guttulatus MAXENT.asc and
Hippocampus sp. MAXENT.asc, respectively). Rasters of the raw predicted
habitat suitability outputs from the maximum entropy (MAXENT, Phillips et al.
2006) species distribution model algorithm are provided.
Additionally, the environmental data layers used for modelling the species
distributions, including distance to seagrass habitat (degrees) (Distance From
Seagrass.tif), distance to the coastline (DistCo.tif) bathymetry (m)
(Bathy.tif), minimum winter and maximum summer SST (oC) (Kriging SST Winter
Min.tif and Kriging SST Summer Max.tif, respectively) and chlorophyll a
concentration (mg m-3) (Kriging Chla Winter Smooth.tif and Kriging Chla
Summer Smooth.tif, respectively).
All raster layers are provided in the WGS84 (EPSG::4326) spatial reference
system. All raster layers are at a gridded resolution of 0.0042 x 0.0042
degrees. All layers cover the shelf seas surrounding the UK, including the
English Channel, Celtic Seas, North Sea, and extend into shallow coastal and
estuarine habitats. Raster layers of predicted habitat suitability are
provided in ASCI format, whilst environmental predictor layers are provided in
TIFF format.
This work was prioritised by Natural England’s Seahorse Working Group and was
funded by Natural England. This work was conducted in collaboration with The
Seahorse Trust who provided the seahorse occurrence data. The information
provided will support marine spatial planning to reduce the broader impact of
anthropogenic activities and enable better decision-making to protect these
sensitive species and their habitats.