Eunis Habitat Classification Revised 2004
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EUNIS HABITAT CLASSIFICATION REVISED 2004 Cynthia E Davies1 Dorian Moss2 Mark O Hill3 1Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Winfrith Technology Centre, Winfrith Newburgh, Dorchester, Dorset DT2 8ZD, UK 2 Dorian Ecological Information Ltd., 21 Stapleford Road, Whissendine, Oakham, Rutland LE15 7HF, UK 3Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monks Wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon PE28 2LS, UK Report to: EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY EUROPEAN TOPIC CENTRE ON NATURE PROTECTION AND BIODIVERSITY Date: October 2004 EUNIS Habitat Classification Revised 2004 by Cynthia E Davies, Dorian Moss and Mark O Hill Abstract The habitat classification forms an integral part of the European Nature Information System (EUNIS), developed and managed by the European Topic Centre for Nature Protection and Biodiversity (ETC/NPB in Paris) for the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Environmental Information Observation Network (EIONET). The EUNIS habitat system consists of a database together with explanatory documentation. EUNIS habitats are arranged in a hierarchy, starting at level 1. They provide a comprehensive typology for the habitats of Europe and its adjoining seas. This report provides full documentation of EUNIS habitats to level 4 for marine habitats and to level 3 for terrestrial and freshwater habitats. Marine habitats, their descriptions, and the criteria for deriving them, were extensively revised following an expert workshop in Helsinki in July 2004. Terrestrial and freshwater habitats were critically reviewed by us in 2004. Many new definitions were added and most of the existing definitions were revised. A few names were changed. The results of these changes are presented as a set of factsheets for habitats at levels 1 to 4 (marine) and levels 1 to 3 (terrestrial and freshwater), accompanied by a key and a glossary. In an annex, the names and index numbers of all EUNIS habitats are listed, including the higher levels. ii CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 1.1 Habitats in the context of the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) ..............1 1.2 Definition and scale of EUNIS habitats ..........................................................................2 1.3 The EUNIS habitat type classification: Description of level 1 habitats..........................3 1.4 EUNIS habitat classification: Description of marine level 2 habitats.............................4 1.5 Development of the classification ...................................................................................5 1.6 Development of the marine part of the classification......................................................6 2 KEY TO THE CLASSIFICATION TO LEVEL 2 ........................................................8 A Criteria for marine habitats...................................................................................................................13 B Criteria for coastal habitats...................................................................................................................28 C Criteria for inland surface waters........................................................................................................33 D Criteria for mires, bogs and fens.........................................................................................................40 E Criteria for grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens ...............................48 F Criteria for heathland, scrub and tundra ............................................................................................59 G Criteria for woodland, forest and other wooded land ...................................................................72 H Criteria for inland unvegetated or sparsely vegetated habitats...................................................83 I Criteria for regularly or recently cultivated agricultural, horticultural and domestic habitats.......................................................................................................................................................90 J Criteria for constructed, industrial and other artificial habitats (J) to Level 2 ........................93 3 HABITAT DEFINITIONS AND FACTSHEETS......................................................100 A Marine habitats ................................................................................................................101 B Coastal habitats...............................................................................................................181 C Inland surface waters.......................................................................................................189 D Mires, bogs and fens........................................................................................................198 E Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens.........................................206 F Heathland, scrub and tundra............................................................................................221 G Woodland, forest and other wooded land........................................................................236 H Inland unvegetated or sparsely vegetated habitats ..........................................................253 I Regularly or recently cultivated agricultural, horticultural and domestic habitats .........267 J Constructed, industrial and other artificial habitats ........................................................270 4 GLOSSARY...................................................................................................................279 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................297 6 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................306 ANNEX 1 Index numbers and names of all EUNIS Habitats 2004 (in a separate document) iii 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Habitats in the context of the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) Since the inception of the European Environment Agency there has been a continuous work programme to develop a comprehensive framework for classification of European habitats and to provide descriptions of European habitat types within the framework. The framework includes habitat attributes, which in this context are called ‘parameters’, of which defining parameters are used to distinguish between habitats and descriptive parameters are used to describe the range of geomorphology, salinity, human impacts and so forth that are encompassed within the habitat. The habitat classification forms an integral part of the European Nature Information System (EUNIS), developed and managed by the European Topic Centre for Nature Protection and Biodiversity (ETC/NPB in Paris) for the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Environmental Information Observation Network (EIONET). The EUNIS web application (http://eunis.eea.eu.int/index.jsp) (EEA 2004) provides access to publicly available data in a consolidated database. The information includes: • Data on Species, Habitats and Sites compiled in the framework of NATURA2000 (EU Habitats and Birds Directives), • Data collected from frameworks such as EIONET, data sources or material published by ETC/NPB (formerly the European Topic Centre for Nature Conservation). • Information on Species, Habitats and Sites taken into account in relevant international conventions or from International Red Lists. • Specific data collected in the framework of the EEA's reporting activities, which also constitute a core set of data to be updated periodically. This report presents the EUNIS habitat classification and key updated in October 2004. 1.2 Definition and scale of EUNIS habitats For the purposes of EUNIS, a ‘habitat’ is defined as: ‘a place where plants or animals normally live, characterized primarily by its physical features (topography, plant or animal physiognomy, soil characteristics, climate, water quality etc.) and secondarily by the species of plants and animals that live there’. Habitats are necessarily defined at a given scale. Some EUNIS habitats such as moss and lichen tundra or deep-sea mud may be of vast extent. Others such as cave entrances or springs, spring brooks and geysers are much smaller. Most but not all EUNIS habitats are in effect ‘biotopes’, that is to say ‘areas with particular environmental conditions that are sufficiently uniform to support a characteristic assemblage of organisms’. A few EUNIS habitats such as glaciers and highly artificial non-saline standing waters may be devoid of living organisms other than microbes. These features, although not strictly habitats, are included for completeness. The EUNIS habitat classification is comprehensive. It covers the whole of the European land and sea area, i.e. the European mainland as far east as the Ural Mountains, including offshore islands (Cyprus; Iceland but not Greenland), and the archipelagos of the European Union 1 Member States (Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores), Anatolian Turkey and the Caucasus. In general, the scale selected for the EUNIS habitat classification is that occupied by small vertebrates, large invertebrates, and vascular plants. It is the same as that generally adopted by other European-scale typologies, for example by the Palaearctic habitat classification (Devillers & Devillers-Terschuren, 1996) and is comparable to the scale applied to the classification of vegetation in traditional