A comparison of different biogeographical classifications of Europe, Great Britain and Spain

Bunce, R.G.H.; Carey, Peter; Elena-Rosselló, Ramón; Orr, James; Watkins, John; Fuller, Robert

doi:10.1006/jema.2002.0533

Cited by 27 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Clateres (ElenaRosselló, 1997) and the European Classification (Metzger, 2005) show a high degree of correlation, comparable to that reported by Bunce et al (2002), and the strata can therefore be used for extrapolation purposes. Figure 4 shows both classification maps, where the main geographical patterns are clear visible.…”

Section: Description Of the Methodological Proposal For Spainsupporting

confidence: 58%

European framework for surveillance and monitoring of habitats: a methodological approach for Spain

Bunce

Pérez‐Soba²,

Gómez-Sanz

et al. 2006

For. syst.

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There is a well defined policy requirement for a practical and reproducible procedure for surveillance and monitoring of habitats in Spain that can subsequently be fitted into a European framework. Any such procedure also needs to incorporate records of the Spanish habitat classification.A procedure is described that will satisfy those requirements and has been field tested both in Spain and in Europe. Rigorous rules and training are required; otherwise changes from baseline records cannot reliably be separated from background noise. The procedure uses the classical plant life forms long used in biogeography and is based on their statistical relationship with the environment. This relationship has been validated statistically and the procedure has also been tested in the field in all European environmental zones and widely in Spain. 130 General Habitat Categories are defined and these are enhanced in the field by recording environmental, site and management qualities to produce a flexible database that can then be interrogated. The rules for mapping the habitats mean that they can be used for descriptive purposes or for monitoring. In conjunction with stratification and subsequent sampling, national estimates of stock and change can then be produced.Finally, based on the previous experience of SISPARES, a methodological scheme is proposed for adapting the approach to Spain. The proposal will allow links to be made between European scale surveillance and monitoring to those already obtained for Spain.Key words: field recording, stratification, biodiversity, life forms, BIOHAB, SISPARES. Resumen Estructura europea para la supervisión y el seguimiento de hábitats: aproximación metodológica para EspañaExisten en España políticas bien definidas que demandan procedimientos prácticos y reproducibles para llevar a cabo la supervisión y seguimiento de los hábitats, de modo que subsecuentemente puedan ajustarse al marco Europeo. Cualquier procedimiento de estas características necesita poder incorporar datos registrados de la clasificación española de hábitats.Aquí se describe un procedimiento que satisface dichos requisitos y que ha sido probado tanto en España como en el resto de Europa. El método exige reglas rigurosas y entrenamiento de campo; si no los cambios en los registros bá-sicos no se podrán separar de manera fiable de los errores subjetivos cometidos durante la toma de datos. El procedimiento utiliza las clásicas formas de vida, ampliamente utilizadas en estudios biogeográficos y está basado en sus relaciones con el medio ambiente. Esta relación ha sido validada estadísticamente y el procedimiento ha sido probado en el campo en todas las zonas ambientales de Europa.En España, se han definido 130 Categorías Generales de Hábitats y se han verificado en el campo mediante el registro de atributos ambientales, estacionales y de manejo, de forma que puedan ser incluidas en una base de datos suficientemente flexible. Las directrices para la cartografía de hábitats posibilitan su uso descriptivo y permiten su...

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Section: Description Of the Methodological Proposal For Spainsupporting

confidence: 58%

European framework for surveillance and monitoring of habitats: a methodological approach for Spain

Bunce

Pérez‐Soba²,

Gómez-Sanz

et al. 2006

For. syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The use of the Spanish rural landscape network SISPARES includes a comprehensive representation of rural landscapes throughout Spain according to the biogeoclimatic conditions (García del Barrio et al, 2003). This landscape classification is also linked to other stratifications in Europe as described by Bunce et al (2002) and its primary gradient is identical to that described in Metzger et al (2005).…”

Section: Temporal Changes Of Landscape Composition and Configurationmentioning

confidence: 53%

The relative dependence of Spanish landscape pattern on environmental and geographical variables over time

Ortega¹,

Bunce

Barrio³

et al. 2008

For. syst.

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The analysis of the dependence of landscape patterns on environment was carried out in order to investigate the landscape structure evolution of Spain. The underlying concept was that the dependence between landscape spatial structure and environmental factors could be gradually decreasing over time. Land cover data were recorded from aerial photo interpretation of 206 4 × 4 km 2 samples from three different years : 1956, 1984 and 1998. Geographical variables were taken into consideration together with the purely environmental ones. General Linear Models of repeated measures were then used to segregate environmental from geographical effects on the pattern of the land cover patches of the samples. Aridity, lithology and topography were the environmental factors used to analyse structural indices of landscape.Landscape composition has a higher dependence on environment than configuration. Environmental variables showed higher correlations with landscape composition and configuration than geographical variables. Among them, overall the climatic aridity and topography significantly accounted for more variation than did lithology.There was a high degree of stability in land cover composition over time, with some signif icant exceptions. Nevertheless, the registered increase of fragmentation over time has demonstrated that configuration measures are needed to fully assess landscape change.Key words: climatic effects, structural indices, landscape, composition, configuration, lithology, geography. Resumen Dependencia relativa entre los patrones de los paisajes españoles y variables medioambientales, geográficas y temporalesSe ha analizado la evolución de la estructura del paisaje español mediante un análisis de la dependencia de los patrones del paisaje respecto del medioambiente. La hipótesis principal es que la dependencia entre la estructura del paisaje y los factores ambientales está disminuyendo con el tiempo. Los datos de composición y configuración de paisaje fueron tomados mediante interpretación de fotografías aéreas tomadas en los años 1956, 1984 y 1998 en 206 parcelas de 4 × 4 km 2 . Se han tenido en cuenta variables geográficas junto con las variables puramente ambientales. Se han utilizado modelos lineales generalizados de medidas repetidas para determinar la importancia de los efectos ambientales con respecto a los geográficos en los patrones de paisaje. Las variables ambientales utilizadas para analizar los índices estructurales del paisaje fueron: aridez, litología y topografía.Existe una mayor dependencia ambiental en la composición que en la configuración. Las variables ambientales tuvieron un mayor efecto sobre la estructura del paisaje que las geográficas. Entre aquellas, la aridez climática y la topografía influyeron más que la litología. La composición se mostró en general estable a lo largo del periodo de estudio con algunas excepciones. Sin embargo, se observó una fragmentación significativa que indica la necesidad de analizar los índices de configuración para detectar los cambios de pa...

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“…Despite the fact that climate variables were used to construct the EnS instead of bioclimate variables, the EnS strata show high correlations with both the annual temperature sum (R 2 = 0.95) and the growing season (R 2 = 0.83) (Metzger et al 2005a), indicating that strata are strongly correlated with ecological parameters used in ecological niche modelling (see Thuiller et al 2005). The choice of variables will have some influence on the class boundaries, but statistical environmental classifications will have much in common and decisions between them are arbitrary (Bunce et al 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Projected environmental shifts under climate change: European trends and regional impacts

et al. 2008

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SUMMARYPotential impacts of climate change on ecosystems and the environment are generally assessed by summarizing climate change scenarios for broad regions (for example countries), or by specific modelling exercises. This paper presents an alternative approach for summarizing climate change impacts on the European environment, by linking climate change scenarios to recognized environmental divisions. Sixteen climate scenarios from four general circulation models were therefore linked to 84 statistically derived strata sharing common environmental features. In this way, the future distribution of the strata, as defined by their climate characteristics, were quantified and mapped. The results show that Europe is likely to experience major environmental shifts, with pronounced regional variations. As expected, environmental strata shift northwards. In particular the southern Mediterranean strata are projected to expand, whereas Atlantic environments remain much more stable. Alpine and Mediterranean mountain environments decline dramatically. However, the Scandinavian zones show no consistent pattern of change. More detailed analysis of four sample regions shows that the impacts of the projected shifts will largely depend on regional characteristics. Environmental conservation, regional assessments and scenario development could therefore be facilitated by combining relevant regional datasets (for example for vegetation, land cover and species distribution) with the shifting environmental strata.

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A comparison of different biogeographical classifications of Europe, Great Britain and Spain

Cited by 27 publications

References 12 publications

European framework for surveillance and monitoring of habitats: a methodological approach for Spain

European framework for surveillance and monitoring of habitats: a methodological approach for Spain

The relative dependence of Spanish landscape pattern on environmental and geographical variables over time

Projected environmental shifts under climate change: European trends and regional impacts

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