Table of Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
2 Background to nature conservation surveys 2
2.1 Introduction 2
2.2 Why do we need nature conservation surveys? 3
2.3 Curating your data 5
2.4 Standardisation, survey accuracy and the value of 'unplanned surveys' 5
3 Landscape-scale assessment: putting sites into their wider context 8
3.1 The overall woodland resource 8
3.1.1 Past woodland cover 9
3.2 Woods in their spatial and temporal contexts 10
3.3 Landscape character assessments 11
3.4 Other historical accounts and papers 12
3.5 Conservation designations, agri-environment schemes and surveys 13
3.6 Ancient woodland inventories 13
3.7 Species distributions 13
3.8 Pressures and threats 14
3.9 Collation and analysis of landscape-level surveys 16
4 Site assessment surveys 18
4.1 Introduction 18
4.2 Why focus on recording vascular plant species and structure? 19
4.3 Accessing past surveys 20
5 A basic walkabout survey 21
5.1 Things to consider before you start 21
5.2 Outputs of a walkabout survey 21
5.3 Planning and mapping a route 22
5.3.1 Precision on the map and in the field 27
5.4 Recording plants on walkabouts 28
5.4.1 Recording species abundance 28
5.4.2 Sources of variation in the species recorded 30
5.4.3 Interpreting the species list 31
5.5 Describing woodland structure 33
5.6 Subsidiary habitats within woodland 40
5.7 Surrounding land 44
5.8 Vegetation maps from walkabout surveys 44
5.9 Management 45
5.10 Initial write-up 50
6 Going beyond the walkabout: more detailed surveys 53
6.1 Quadrat recording in woodland for flora/vegetation 53
6.1.1 Size of quadrat 55
6.1.2 Quadrat distribution 56
6.2 Woodland classification 57
6.2.1 Classification systems for British woods 58
6.2.2 The National Vegetation Classification 59
6.2.3 Other woodland classifications and their interrelationships 61
6.3 Recording woodland structure 62
6.4 Dead-wood surveys 65
6.5 Veteran tree and parkland surveys 69
6.6 Grazing and browsing 70
6.7 Woodland archaeology and soil surface features 70
6.8 Soils 74
6.9 Biomass and energy flows 76
7 Surveys for species groups other than vascular plants 77
7.1 Mammals 77
7.2 Woodland birds 79
7.3 Reptiles and amphibians 81
7.4 Bryophytes 82
7.5 Lichens 83
7.6 Invertebrates 84
7.7 Fungi 90
8 Long-term surveillance to detect change 91
8.1 Introduction 91
8.2 Landscape-scale change 92
8.3 Condition monitoring on designated sites 93
8.4 Use of permanent plots and transects to assess change in woodland stand structure and composition 95
8.4.1 Semi-permanent plots 96
8.4.2 Other types of permanent/semi-permanent record 96
8.4.3 Making 'permanent plot studies' permanent in practice 96
9 Conclusion 98
Appendix 1 Example of a completed walkabout record card 99
Appendix 2 Stand Group key 103
Appendix 3 National Vegetation Classification: English key 104
Appendix 4 Annex I: Woodland types recognised in the UK 113
References 114
Index 135
