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Aims To define, objectively, a comprehensive set of functional groups of bird species in Scotland, taking into account season and spatial scale; to use these groups to assess how functional biodiversity of Scottish birds is related to land cover/use patterns.Location Scotland.Methods Analyses were of all bird species (resident or migrant) present in Scotland, excluding only the rarest and seabirds which come ashore only to breed, at both individual territory ('Functional Groups')and landscape ('Landscape Clusters') scales, separately for summer and winter, using data covering the whole of Scotland. Functional Groups were defined by species' use of a large number of habitat features for feeding, nesting, roosting/perching and cover/shelter. Landscape Clusters were derived from the strength of species' associations with six land cover/use strata: arable (cropped land), inbye (controlled/managed grasslands), mooredge (mixed moorland/non-moorland landscape), moor (large areas of essentially uninterrupted moorland), plateau (areas containing the highest or most climatically severe moorland or montane land) and nonagricultural (principally urban areas, large forest blocks and large water bodies). Bird species and Functional Groups were related to landscape-scale land cover/use by their associations with strata. Biodiversity patterns in relation to land cover/use were similarly examined both as species diversity and Functional Group diversity.Results Both Functional Groups and Landscape Clusters were clearly interpretable ecologically. Species within Functional Groups had consistent patterns of association with strata, linking birds with land cover/use at landscape as well as local habitat scale. However, Landscape Clusters showed several differences from Functional Groups, mainly linked with the relative importance of 'local' and landscape-scale habitat features, or limited geographical range of some species. While there were clear groupings of species related to land cover/use in summer, bird distributions in winter were primarily related to climate severity, with broad land cover/use of only secondary importance.

Abstract. A floristic classification of British hedgerows is constructed. Hedges (the woody, structural element) and hedge‐bottoms (the mainly herbaceous ground flora) were analysed separately because different natural and management processes were expected to affect them. The 11 hedge classes varied in size from five to over 500 plots. Over two‐thirds of all hedges were dominated by Crataegus spp. or Primus spinosa. Hedge‐bottoms were more evenly grouped into four classes whose species composition could be related to broad land use/habitat types: intensive arable, rotational/mixed farming, managed grasslands, and woodland. The woodland class was only 12% of the total, and species characteristic of true woodland habitats were uncommon even within that class, so our data do not support the hypothesis of hedgerows acting as‘woodland corridors’for plants. Richness/diversity scores differed markedly between different hedge and hedge‐bottom classes. The richest hedgerows, both in species and inferred habitats, were among the rarer types, while the most common classes (both hedge and hedge‐bottom) were consistently the poorest. Comparison of species composition and diversity in hedges and hedge‐bottoms, and associations between them, all supported the hypothesis that the relative importance of historical, management and ecological effects differed between the two parts of the hedgerow; hedges and hedge‐bottoms should be treated ecologically as largely independent units. The classifications and richness/diversity scores enable easy preliminary assessment of the conservation value of a hedgerow. They also enable individual hedgerows to be placed in a wider (national) context.

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