HomeProjectsAboutContactWorking collaboratively with marine science generates innovative, interdisciplinary research methods that can lead to new insights into the value – and future use – of our coastal heritage. This was the key finding of a pilot study jointly funded by Historic England and the Marine Institute, University of Plymouth. The study brought together researchers in Marine Ecology and History and Heritage to investigate the artificial structures of heritage value in the intertidal zone of Plymouth Sound.
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Running from January to April 2023, while relatively short and small-scale, the pilot study clearly established the value of intertidal heritage structures as marine habitats: more species were found on historic than contemporary structures and different species were found on historic structures than on natural rock.
These findings open a discussion about the value - and use - of coastal heritage structures in a future where we face rising sea levels, the shifting of the foreshore further uphill and inland and where more structures will get wet twice a day.
Importantly, the pilot also demonstrates the value of collaborative, interdisciplinary research between marine heritage and marine conservation where new insights come from new ways of working together based on a shared understanding of marine environments such as Plymouth Sound as cultural landscapes, unique places formed through the interactions of humans and nature over time.
To find out more about any of our projects please contact us: daniel.maudlin@plymouth.ac.uk