Trends in Broad Habitats: England 1990-1998

In order to set ‘priority’ habitats and species requiring conservation action in context, a classification of ‘Broad Habitat’ types was developed as part of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, of which results from 15 terrestrial habitats are reported in Countryside Survey 2000 (CS2000). Two indicators from a suite of ‘Quality of Life Counts’ (la ndscape features and plant diversity) were derived from Countryside Survey data, and these are also reported. CS2000 and its predecessors provide baseline data for future surveys of countryside change in England. The Countryside Survey was first carried out in 1978, with additional surveys in 1984, 1990 and 1998 (for CS2000). The main terrestrial components of the field survey included; habitat/land cover mapping and the recording of species composition in permanently marked plots. The survey estimated the ‘stock’ (or amount) of each terrestrial Broad Habitat in Great Britain and the change in stock by comparing areas visited in both 1990 and 1998. It was recognised that the methodology could not provide reliable information on all Broad Habitats, especially those with a limited distribution. A suite of condition indices for plant species based on Ellenberg indicator values of soil fertility, soil pH and light, and the three established plant strategies, viz. ruderals, stress-tolerators and competitive plants, were used to express fine scale vegetation change. Changes in these indices can be used to assess changes in vegetation quality and to infer possible drivers of change. The results of the CS2000 for England and Wales and Scotland were published in late 2000 (Haines-Young et al. 2000). This report presents the findings from an analysis of results from the 302 1km squares which were surveyed in England.