Datailed surveying and mapping of plant communities on featureless terrain

Abstract

AbstractA system of detailed vegetation mapping has been developed for use on undulating terrain where there is a complex mosaic of soil types, drainage characteristics and plant communities and where topography is such that it is impossible to locate a position by reference solely to a map grid reference point, for example hill/moorland grazings, sand dunes and mud flats. The system involved using electronic surveying equipment to locate accurately, in terms of National Grid coordinates and altitude, a large number of points over the area to be surveyed for which vegetation types were identified and recorded. The merged location and vegetation data set for individual points were imported into a geographic information system (GIS) to map ‘point’ vegetation data accurately. The GIS was then used to create regions around points (voronoi) using Delaunay triangulation to produce a vegetation map. Altitude information was used within the GIS to produce a contour map of the surveyed area.Vegetation was classified into communities of the British National Vegetation Classification and, although it does not describe all the variants within communities/sub‐communities fully, extra information for individual point locations was stored in tables within the GIS. This information was readily accessed by using the mouse cursor to highlight a point and reveal a window containing all the tabulated information for that point.This methodology was used to produce a reliable map that accurately positioned and mapped previously unmarked landscape features, new boundaries/fences, vegetation types and contours. This facility could be used for a variety of experimental, planning and consultancy applications including botanical survey work, grazing behaviour studies, conservation, land use planning and management.