Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1058597 | Journal of Environmental Management | 2007 | 8 Pages |
Estimates of terrestrial Broad Habitat cover for Wales from the Countryside Survey 2000 stratified sample field mapping programme in Britain are compared with the findings of a full census field mapping project, the Habitat Survey of Wales. The Countryside Survey sampling regime comprised a stratified random sample of 1 km square covering <0.5% of the land surface. Comparative assessment indicates that although few of the sample-derived estimates for individual Broad Habitats are within 30% of the full census survey results, relative extents accord with data from the complete census survey for all Broad Habitats apart from Arable & Horticultural. The accuracy of this estimate is improved when the national boundary of Wales is taken into account in the sample stratification scheme. It is suggested that cultural land-use differences between countries render cropland habitat extent less predictable from physical environmental parameters than semi-natural habitat extent. It is also shown that the precision of sample-derived cover estimates is influenced by habitat pattern: the error term associated with habitats of broadly equal extent is greater for those with the most clumped distributions.