Question 4.1
What species is habitat classification used for PECBMS data?
Answer
The PECBMS currently uses two versions of species habitat classification: single European species habitat classification and BioGeo regional species habitat classification.
This species habitat classification for main habitat types (farmland, forest, and other) has been developed using improved procedure accepted at the PEBCMS workshop in Prague in 2005.
BioGeo regional species habitat classification is based on regional coordinators’ expertise, who were responsible for the production of regional species lists in cooperation with all relevant experts within their regions. Distinguished regions were: ´Continental´, ´Atlantic´, ´Mediterranean´, and ´Boreal´. Within these regions, coordinators classified each species for main habitat types (farmland, forest, and other). BioGeo regional species habitat classification for each region is specified in the table (columns ´Continental´, ´Atlantic´, ´Mediterranean´, and ´Boreal´) which you can download in the Methods section, chapter 3, Box Species selection, and classification.
Explanations:
[blue] ´Atlantic´: Belgium, Denmark, France Atlantic (Atlantic part of the country), West Germany Atlantic (Atlantic part of the country), Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, UK.
[yellow] ´The Mediterranean´: France Mediterranean (Mediterranean part of the country), Italy Mediterranean (Mediterranean part of the country), Spain, Portugal.
[brown] ´Continental´ (incl. Pannonian region): Austria, Czech Republic, East Germany, West Germany Continental (Continental part of the country), France Continental (Continental part of the country), Hungary, Italy Continental (Continental part of the country), Poland, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania.
[green] ´Boreal´: Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden.
Single European species habitat classification has been created as a combination of the BioGeo regional habitat characteristics of each species into the general species habitat classification unified for the whole of Europe. For this general, single European classification, a species was assigned to a particular habitat category if:
- at least two regions provided their classification, and all providing regions agreed, or
- only one region (minority) classified a species different from the others.
In some cases, a species classification was provided by one region only. Still, if the species were concentrated in that region and didn´t occur elsewhere in Europe, we accepted the species BioGeo regional classification as single European, too. If regional classifications differed completely, a species was generally considered as ´other species´.
The latest single European species habitat classification is defined in the table (column ´Europe´) which is provided in the Methods section, chapter 3, Box Species selection, and classification.