Skip to Content

Resource hub

National Vegetation Classification – Ten years' experience using the woodland section 2003

Abstract

The woodland section of the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) has been widely used since its publication in 1991 for the description of semi-natural woodland, in developing prescriptions for the composition of new woodland, and to provide links between UK woods and those in the rest of Europe.

Criticisms of the classification have been that it ignores many important variations in the tree and shrub layers and in the woodland structure. These variations can be accommodated as cross-cutting divisions within the NVC framework. While the NVC woodland communities, for the most part, reflect environmental variations, there is increasing evidence that some differences are caused by changes in the level of grazing. The stability of the classes may need to be reviewed in the light of climate change if there are major shifts in species distributions and, hence, in the composition of woodland communities.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2003·06·01

Citation
Goldberg, E. (Editor). 2003. National Vegetation Classification – Ten years' experience using the woodland section, JNCC Report No. 335, JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091.

Lineage
This report is based on a seminar held in April 2001, hosted by JNCC and the Forest Ecology Group of the British Ecological Society.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC publisher

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2019·10·25

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

Back to top