Macroalgal vegetation on a north European artificial reef (Loch Linnhe, Scotland) : biodiversity, community types and role of abiotic factors

Open Access via the Springer Compact Agreement Acknowledgements: We would like to thank the dive team of the UK National Facility for Scientific Diving (NFSD), namely Elaine Azzopardi and Hugh Brown, as well as Norman Smith, skipper of the RV Seol Mara, for their diving and logistics support during the fieldwork for this study in July 2014. Funding information: This study received support from the European Community research infrastructure action under the FP7 ‘capacities’specific program ASSEMBLE (grant no. 227788). Also, the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011) supported FCK and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded NFSD. Funding for the construction of the artificial reefs was provided kindly by Foster Yeoman Limited. ; Peer reviewed