4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 English ISO/IEC 8859-1 (also known as Latin 1) dataset dataset NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg Lancaster LA1 4AP UK info@eidc.ac.uk https://eidc.ac.uk/ EIDC website The Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC) is the UK's national data centre for terrestrial and freshwater sciences. information pointOfContact 2025-11-13T16:23:46 UK GEMINI 2.3 OSGB 1936 / British National Grid Individual heath area estimates for land cover types in Dorset: 1978-2005 2015-08-27 publication 1438856428928 CEH:EIDC: https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 10.5285/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 doi: Rose, R.J., Bullock, J.M., Clarke, R.T., Cordingley, J.E., Newton, A.C. (2015). Individual heath area estimates for land cover types in Dorset: 1978-2005. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre 10.5285/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 This dataset is a census of the heathland and associated vegetation from Dorset, UK. The Dorset heathlands are situated in South West England, and are generally associated with free-draining and acidic soils overlying Tertiary sands and gravels. The heathlands comprise a mosaic of different vegetation types, characterised by dwarf shrub communities dominated by members of the Ericaceae (e.g. Calluna vulgaris, Erica spp.), together with areas of mire, grassland, scrub and woodland. Unless they are managed heathlands undergo succession to scrub and woodland. Therefore the majority of heathland sites are currently under some form of conservation management, which is implemented to reduce succession to scrub and woodland. Management interventions include cutting and burning of vegetation, and grazing by livestock. Individual heathland patches are also managed for ecosystem services, such as recreation and timber production, as well as biodiversity conservation. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 Rose, R.J. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology enquiries@ceh.ac.uk author Bullock, J.M. Centre for Ecology & Hydrology enquiries@ceh.ac.uk https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0529-4020 ORCID record ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. information author Clarke, R.T. Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Science enquiries@ceh.ac.uk author Cordingley, J.E. Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Science enquiries@ceh.ac.uk author Newton, A.C. Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Science enquiries@ceh.ac.uk author NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre info@eidc.ac.uk custodian NERC Environmental Information Data Centre info@eidc.ac.uk publisher Rose, R. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology enquiries@ceh.ac.uk pointOfContact notPlanned Land Cover Habitats and Biotopes theme GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication census survey heathland vegetation GEMET - Concepts, version 4.1.3 2019-01-28 creation Dorset UK GeoNames 2006-01-01 creation otherRestrictions no limitations otherRestrictions This resource is made available under the terms of the Open Government Licence otherRestrictions © Natural Environment Research Council otherRestrictions If you reuse this data, you should cite: Rose, R.J., Bullock, J.M., Clarke, R.T., Cordingley, J.E., Newton, A.C. (2015). Individual heath area estimates for land cover types in Dorset: 1978-2005. NERC Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 textTable English utf8 environment 1978-01-01 2005-12-31 -2.961 -1.681 50.521 51.08 Comma-separated values (CSV) NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre info@eidc.ac.uk distributor https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3 Download the data Get a copy of this data download https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/4c347ec4-0beb-4355-9780-89dad718b2f3.zip Supporting information Supporting information available to assist in re-use of this dataset information dataset dataset Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 In this survey the plot sample size of 4 ha (200 m x 200 m) is based on the National Ordnance Survey mapping grid. All those plots within the county boundary of Dorset that were known to contain some heathland vegetation (dry heath, humid heath, wet heath and mire) in 1978 were surveyed for the cover of all major vegetation types. These vegetation types were: dry heath; humid heath/wet heath; mire; brackish marsh; carr; scrub; hedges and boundaries; woodland; grassland; sand dunes; sand and clay; ditches, streams, rivers, pools, ponds; arable; urban; other land uses; bare ground. Within each plot, the cover of all vegetation types was estimated and recorded on a 3-point abundance scale (1 = 1-10 percent cover; 2 = 11-50 percent cover; 3 = greater than 50 percent cover). A total of 3110 plots were identified in 1978, and, following the initial survey, repeat surveys of all plots were done in 1987, 1996 and 2005. These data were converted into area estimates and the plots amalgamated into groups 'heaths' for this dataset.