View source for British National Vegetation Classification

{{Short description|Descriptions for UK land plant assemblages}}
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The '''British National Vegetation Classification''' or '''NVC''' is a system of classifying [[Earth:Nature|natural]] habitat types in Great Britain according to the [[Biology:Vegetation|vegetation]] they contain.

A large scientific meeting of ecologists, botanists, and other related professionals in the {{wipe|United Kingdom}} resulted in the publication of a compendium of five books: ''[[Biology:British Plant Communities|British Plant Communities]]'', edited by John S. Rodwell, which detail the incidence of plant species in twelve major habitat types in the British [[Earth:Natural environment|natural environment]].<ref name="Rodwell">{{cite book |title=[[Biology:British Plant Communities|British Plant Communities]] |isbn=0521797160|editor-first=John S. |editor-last=Rodwell |publisher={{wipe|Cambridge University Press}}|year=1998–2000}}</ref> They are the first systematic and comprehensive account of the [[Biology:Vegetation|vegetation]] types of the country. They cover all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (not Northern Ireland) and represent fifteen years of research by leading plant [[Earth:Ecology|ecologists]].

From the data collated from the books, commercial [[Software|software]] products have been developed to help to classify vegetation identified into one of the many habitat types found in Great Britain – these include ''MATCH'', ''TABLEFIT'' and ''MAVIS''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/pdf/jncc335.pdf |title=National Vegetation Classification – Ten years' experience using the woodland section |editor-first=E |editor-last=Goldberg |publisher=JNCC |date=April 2001}} citing:
{{cite report |title=Trial of MATCH and TABLEFIT Computer Programs for Placing Survey Data Within the National Vegetation Classification |work=Issue 20 of Joint Nature Conservation Committee report |issn=0963-8091	|author=Joint Nature Conservation Committee (Great Britain). Species Conservation Branch
|publisher=Species Conservation Branch, UK Joint Nature Conservation Committee |year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ceh.ac.uk/services/modular-analysis-vegetation-information-system-mavis|title=Modular Analysis of Vegetation Information System (MAVIS) |publisher=Centre for Ecology & Hydrology |access-date=26 February 2016}}</ref>

== Terminology used in connection with the British National Vegetation Classification ==

The following is a list of terms used in connection with the British National Vegetation Classification, together with their meanings:

=== Communities, subcommunities and variants ===

*A '''community''' is the fundamental unit of categorisation for vegetation.
*A '''subcommunity''' is a distinct recognisable subdivision of a community.
*A '''variant''' is a further subdivision of a subcommunity.

=== Constant species ===

*A '''constant species''' in a community is a species that is always present in any given stand of vegetation belonging to that community.

For a list of the constant species, and the NVC communities in which they are present, see List of constant species in the British National Vegetation Classification.

=== Rare species ===

*A '''rare species''' is a species which is associated with a particular community and is rare nationally.

:The sources used by the authors of ''[[Biology:British Plant Communities|British Plant Communities]]'' for assessing rarity were as follows. 
:a) for [[Biology:Vascular plant|vascular plant]]s, two sources were used:
::*Perring, F. H. and S. M. Walters (1962) ''Atlas of the British Flora'' – a species was regarded as rare if it was given an "A" rating in this work (these were plants which Perring & Walters judged to be sufficiently rare to merit a special search in order to ensure all records were included in the atlas).
::*Any species included on lists compiled by the Nature Conservancy Council of plants found in less than 100 [[Hectad|hectad]]s.

:b) for [[Biology:Bryophyte|bryophyte]]s, the source used was Corley, M. F. V. and M. O. Hill (1981) ''Distribution of bryophytes in the British Isles''. This lists the species and the vice-counties in which they are recorded; presence in under 20 vice-counties was the criterion used for selection as rare.

:c) for [[Biology:Lichen|lichen]]s, no source was available, and the authors used their own selection of species.

For a list of these rare species, and the NVC communities in which they are present, see List of rare species in the British National Vegetation Classification.

== Communities by category ==

In total there are 286 communities in the British National Vegetation Classification. They are grouped into the following major categories:

* Woodland and scrub communities (25 communities, prefixed with the letter "W" — 19 classed as woodland, four as scrub and two as 'underscrub')
* Mires (38 communities, prefixed "M")
* Heaths (22 communities, prefixed "H")
* Mesotrophic grasslands (13 communities, prefixed "MG")
* Calcicolous grasslands (14 communities, prefixed "CG")
* Calcifugous grasslands and montane communities (21 communities, prefixed "U")
* Aquatic communities (24 communities, prefixed "A")
* Swamps and tall-herb fens (28 communities, prefixed "S")
* Salt-marsh communities (28 communities, prefixed "SM")
* Shingle, strandline and sand-dune communities (19 communities, prefixed "SD" — one shingle, two strandline and 16 sand-dune communities)
* Maritime cliff communities (12 communities, prefixed "MC")
* Vegetation of open habitats (42 communities, prefixed "OV")

A full list of these communities, grouped into the above categories, can be found at List of plant communities in the British National Vegetation Classification.

==References==
{{reflist}}


[[Category:Biota by conservation status system]]
[[Category:Metadata standards]]

{{Sourceattribution|British National Vegetation Classification}}