User:SeoR/sandbox/Lambay Survey

(ref. the Copeland Islands too)

Flora and fauna

Lambay has a rich environment, which was studied in detail in the first major multidisciplinary locality study in Ireland, conducted between 1905 and 1906, and published in 1907. This study was a precursor to the even more comprehensive Clare Island Survey of 1909 to 1911. In the years following the survey, the Barings introduced further species to the island, few of which survived, the notable exception being red-necked wallabies.

(raise to own section, as Geology, for example, also studied)?

The Lambay Island Survey

Cecil Baring and naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger corresponded in 1904, and agreed to pursue a study of the natural life of the island and related matters. After a visit to the island by Praeger in 1904, the actual study was conducted in the course of a series of visits by various specialists during 1905 and 1906. It was a multidisciplinary exercise, with geological, zoological and botanical elements, and an historical element added when published. The central focus was around systematic zoology and botany. The results were published in the Irish Naturalist in January and February of 1907. Totalling 112 pages, they comprised:

(on geology and history, and, under zoology, 11 sections, and botany, 4 sections, and an article on the origins of the species found)

• Preface, Robert L. Praeger
• Geology, Henry Seymour
• Historical notes, Cecil Baring
• Zoology
  • Vertebrata
    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Reptiles and amphibia
    • Fishes
    • Tunicata
  • Mollusca
  • Arthropoda
    • Insects
    • Myriapoda
    • Crustaceans
    • Arachnida
  • Annelida
  • Molluscoidea
  • Nemathelmia
  • Platyhelmia
  • Echinodermata
  • Coelenterata
  • Porifera
  • Protozoa
• Botany
• Origin of the flora and fauna

New species were discovered during the study, five new to science, others to the British Isles, and the remainder to Ireland.

Earlier and later studies

A first broad survey of the flora of the island was conducted by Henry Chichester Hart in 1882, and published in the 1883 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Additionally there were some studies of birds were performed before the major study.

Flora

The island is home to 308 plant types. However, surveys have found that 33 are invasive species that have arisen as weeds from agriculture or horticulture.

Fauna

Red-necked wallabies were first released on the island in the 1950s.

The island supports one of the largest seabird colonies in Ireland, with more than 50,000 common guillemots, 5,000 kittiwakes, 3,500 razorbills, 2,500 pairs of herring gulls, as well as smaller numbers of puffins, Manx shearwaters, fulmars, and greylag geese.

North Atlantic sea mammals such as grey seals annually pup on the island. There are non-native red-necked wallabies (introduced by Rupert Baring in the 1950s, augmented by a surplus from Dublin Zoo in the 1980s, numbering perhaps around 100 in 2017), and introduced fallow deer (a herd of about 200). There is also a herd of farmed cattle on the island.

Rockabill and Lambay islands are the best places in County Dublin to see harbour porpoises.

The island also possesses some uncommon invertebrates - a major survey in 1907 discovered new species. Among these were three species of earthworm (including Henlea hibernica), a bristletail (Praemachilis hibernica) and a mite (Trachyuropoda hibernica). The earthworm aspect of the study found 34 species, of which 18 were previously unseen in Ireland, including the three new to science as a whole, and noted that the average size of specimens was smaller than on the mainland by a material amount. A degree of local variation was also noted, and for example, one type was particularly prominent near the Raven's Well.