Biodiversity in Meath

Biodiversity in Meath

Biodiversity includes you too and Meath County Council wants to help you to experience, understand and preserve our county’s biodiversity.

Meath County Council are committed to preserving the county’s biodiversity. Read the pervious biodiversity plans for Meath here

For more information on special conservation areas in Meath please visit the National Parks & Wildlife Service.

Threats to Biodiversity in Meath

Despite the important role biodiversity plays in everyday life, there is a serious concern for biodiversity in Ireland and throughout the world. The pattern of biodiversity loss in Ireland mirrors the global pattern as our local habitats are lost and species numbers have declined. 

The loss of biodiversity is considered a threat of equal size to the climate emergency. The main drivers of biodiversity loss in Meath are habitat loss & fragmentation due to development, recreational disturbance, climate change, water pollution, lack of habitat management and alien invasive species.

Wildlife in Meath

Wildlife is an important part of biodiversity, as each species, ranging from insects to large mammals, plays a fundamental role in regulating the planet's natural cycles.

Raising awareness of the importance of wildlife and combatting its loss due to human activity was the main motivation that led the UN General Assembly to proclaim March 3 as World Wildlife Day in 2013.

Some examples of wildlife in Meath are Amphibians, Bats, Birds, Coastal Animals 

Fauna

All wild birds and all wild animals (both aquatic and terrestrial) and includes in particular fish, wild mammals, reptiles, non-aquatic invertebrate animals and amphibians, and all such wild animals' eggs, larvae, pupae or other immature stage and young, but in relation to fish or aquatic invertebrate animals (or their eggs or spawn or other immature stage or brood or young) only includes fish and such aquatic invertebrate animals of a species specified in regulations under section 23 of the Wildlife Act, 1976, which are for the time being in force.

Protected Areas

Information on sites protected for nature conservation in Co Meath areas is available on the NPWS website.

Habitats

Habitats are an important part of the heritage of County Meath. 

The Heritage Council published ‘A Guide to Habitats in Ireland’ which provides a standard scheme for describing habitats in Ireland. This publication can be viewed and/or downloaded from the Heritage Council website at https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/content/files/guide_to_habitats_2007_5mb…

For more on habitats in County Meath visit the National Parks and Wildlife website

Woodland, Trees and Hedgerows

Read all about our Woodland, Trees and Hedgerows.

Wetlands

 A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. The water in wetlands is either freshwater, brackish or saltwater. 

The main types of wetland are defined based on the dominant plants and the source of the water. For example, marshes are wetlands dominated by emergent herbaceous vegetation such as reeds, cattails and sedges.

Grasslands

Grasslands are areas in which the vegetation is dominated by a nearly continuous cover of grasses. Grasslands occur in environments conducive to the growth of this plant cover but not to that of taller plants, particularly trees and shrubs. The factors preventing establishment of such taller, woody vegetation are varied.

Grasslands are one of the most widespread of all the major vegetation types of the world. This is so, however, only because human manipulation of the land has significantly altered the natural vegetation, creating artificial grasslands of cereal crops, pastures, and other areas that require some form of repetitious, unnatural disturbance such as cultivation, heavy grazing, burning, or mowing to persist. This discussion, however, concentrates on natural and nearly natural grasslands.

Landscape

Areas, sites, vistas and features of significant scenic, archaeological, geological, historical, ecological or other scientific interest.

Seascape

Areas and sites of coastal water including estuaries, bays and lagoons of significant scenic, geological, ecological or other scientific interest.

Wildlife Habitats

The ecological environment in which particular organisms and communities there of thrive.

Mapping

https://www.npws.ie/maps-and-data