Monitoring of vegetation change across complex landscapes

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Digimap Case Study:
Monitoring of vegetation change across complex landscapes

Authors

Sue Hearn

Title

Monitoring of vegetation change across complex landscapes

Date

December 2005- December 2008

Application Area

Conservation management

Application to other subject areas

Ecology, Forestry

Project type

PhD thesis

Summary

My PhD focuses on methods of detecting vegetation response to changes in management. Changes in vegetation takes two forms, changes in floristics and changes in structure; I am looking at both of these in relation to issues of sampling and scaling.

Datasets Used

Name:

1. OS 1: 50,000 scale colour raster, OS Land-form PROFILE DTM 1: 10,000, BGS data 1: 50,000

2. National Trust estate and compartment boundaries

3. Phase I

4. National Vegetation Classification

5. National Inventory of Woodlands and Trees (NIWT) 2ha woodland dataset

6. Aerial photography

Source:

1. EDINA Digimap

2. National Trust

3. Countryside Council for Wales

4. Countryside Council for Wales

5. Forestry Commission

6. Millennium map - Getmapping plc

Aims and Objectives

To compare different monitoring methods across a landscape scale
To determine an efficient methodology for describing vegetation pattern
To explore how vegetation pattern changes at different spatial scales
To provide a useful monitoring tool for conservation managers

Methodology

1.Comparison of surveying and monitoring methods across Hafod y Llan, a large upland site in Eryri/Snowdonia Special Area of Conservation.

Classification of site: National Vegetation Classification (NVC)

Common Standards Monitoring

Fixed Point Quadrats / Photography

2. Establishment of a systematic sampling system across whole site, with plots in which key abiotic and vegetation measurements are recorded. The plots are located across a grid of 400m and then two areas chosen for intensive sampling; one homogenous and one heterogeneous in which plots are placed at a variety of scales down to 50m apart.

Additional Information

	Map 1: This map shows Hafod y Llan in Snowdonia, which stretches from the oak woodlands in the Nant Gwynant valley up to the summit of Snowdon. The locations of sample plots across grids at a variety of scales are shown.
Photos of plots in a variety of habitats across Hafod y Llan:
	Figure 1. Woodland
	Figure 2. Rock outcrop
	Figure 3. Dry heath
	Figure 4. Bracken

References & Acknowledgments

My PhD is supervised by Dr Morag McDonald and Dr John Healey from the School of the Environment and Natural Resources at Bangor University and Dr Jenny Wong from Wild Resources Limited, a North Wales based environmental consultancy group. It is part- funded by the European Social Funding initiative and Wild Resources Limited.

Publishing Institution

School of the Environment and Natural Resources - Bangor University

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