| Cairngorm Lochs | |
|---|---|
 A view towards the east end of Loch Avon | |
| Location | Grampian and Highland, Scotland |
| Coordinates | 57°6′12.36″N3°37′37.68″W / 57.1034333°N 3.6271333°W Coordinates: 57°6′12.36″N3°37′37.68″W / 57.1034333°N 3.6271333°W |
| Area | 1.73 km2 (0.67 sq mi) [1] |
| Established | 1981 |
Cairngorm Lochs is a protected wetland area in the Cairngorms, in the Grampian and Highland regions of Scotland. With a total area of 173 hectares, it covers five freshwater lochs which are among the highest areas of standing water in the UK. It has been protected as a Ramsar Site since 1981. [1]
The Cairngorms are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain of the Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park on 1 September 2003. Although the Cairngorms give their name to, and are at the heart of, the Cairngorms National Park, they only form one part of the national park, alongside other hill ranges such as the Angus Glens and the Monadhliath, and lower areas like Strathspey.
Grampian was a local government region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996. It is now divided into the unitary council areas of:
Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in the United Kingdom. It was the 7th most populous council area in Scotland at the 2011 census. It shares borders with the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross. Their councils, and those of Angus and Stirling, also have areas of the Scottish Highlands within their administrative boundaries.
The site is composed of five separate lochs: Etchachan, Uiane, Coire an Lochain, Avon and Einich. All five lakes are extremely oligotrophic and support highly specialized populations of zooplankton and phytoplankton; the two largest also support plant populations including Littorella uniflora, Lobelia dortmanna and Juncus bulbosus. [2]
Loch Etchachan is an exceedingly remote freshwater loch set deep within the central Cairngorms plateau, in the Cairngorms National Park, located in the eastern Highlands of Scotland. It is the highest waterbody of its size in the UK, the surface being 927 metres (3,041 ft) above sea level.
Zooplankton are heterotrophic plankton. Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans, seas, and bodies of fresh water. The word zooplankton is derived from the Greek zoon (ζῴον), meaning "animal", and planktos (πλαγκτός), meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Individual zooplankton are usually microscopic, but some are larger and visible to the naked eye.
Phytoplankton are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of oceans, seas and freshwater basin ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning "plant", and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning "wanderer" or "drifter". Most phytoplankton are too small to be individually seen with the unaided eye. However, when present in high enough numbers, some varieties may be noticeable as colored patches on the water surface due to the presence of chlorophyll within their cells and accessory pigments in some species.
As well as being recognised as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, the lochs are additionally protected as they all lie within the boundaries of the Cairngorms National Park.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the Convention was signed in 1971.
Cairngorms National Park is a national park in north east Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, set up in 2002. The park covers the Cairngorms range of mountains, and surrounding hills. Already the largest national park in the British Isles, in 2010 it expanded into Perth and Kinross.
