What is the future for Lough Hyne now that two alien species have been discovered there?
Lough Hyne – Europe’s Giant Rockpool On the southern Irish coast is a European jewel – Lough Hyne, which was designated as Ireland’s first marine nature reserve in 1981. As Europe’s only inland marine lake, it encapsulatesan entire marine ecosystem, and because of this is one of the most studied marine sites in Europe. The long term data that has been collected from this extraordinary natural laboratory has helped to give a much broader understanding and history of many marine species of plants and animals found in wider Europe, and also revealed that two alien species may be about to cause havoc in the Lough. Lough Hyne is an importantrefuge for the purple sea urchin, which has declined catastrophically across Euroope in the past two decades. Work is being carried out on Lough Hyne to determine what influences the urchin’s breeding habits, and how it can be saved across Europe. In the final episode of Wild Europe Lionel Kelleway takes a boat across the Lough to discover its history an
