Habitat types key navigation

You can use the 'key navigation' function to identify a specific habitat by answering a set of questions. Starting from first question to next questions you select one of the possible answers. Here are samples of possible answers:

• No ( 002 ) - Leading to question named '002'
• Yes [ G ] - Leading to another questions subset of level G
• No [ E6 ] - Links directly to factsheet for E6

Additionally the diagram may be used for reference.


Category : (All )All habitats
Diagram :

Question 001 :   Constructed or extremely artificial or regularly tilled habitat?

Is the habitat highly artificial, i.e. either constructed or with a man-made substrate; industrial; maintained solely by frequent tilling; or if recently abandoned, then either bare or with pioneer and ruderal vegetation with cover < 30%, (path = Yes)? All other habitats follow path = No. Note that habitats which originated through extractive industries (quarries, mines, peat diggings etc) or disused constructed surfaces, which have been colonised by natural or semi-natural plant and/or animal communities, including pioneer or ruderal communities with vegetation cover > 30%, follow path = No.

Answers: No ( 002 ) Yes ( 011 )

Question 011 :   Regularly tilled?

Habitats maintained solely by frequent tilling or arising from recent abandonment of previously tilled ground such as arable land and gardens (path = Yes) are distinguished from completely artificial habitats (path = No), which are primarily human settlements, industrial developments, transport or waste dump sites or highly artificial waters with wholly constructed beds or heavily contaminated water.

Answers: Yes ( 012 ) No ( 013 )

Question 012 :   Vegetation type?

Regularly tilled habitats are separated according to dominant vegetation type: shrub orchards; tree nurseries and tree-crop plantations; and habitats dominated by cultivated herbaceous vegetation (path = herbs).

Answers: trees [ G ] shrubs [ F (part) ] herbs [ I ]

Question 013 :   Aquatic?

Constructed aquatic freshwater, brackish or saline habitats such as marinas, harbours, industrial lagoons, saltworks, canals, ponds and highly artificial waters follow path = Yes. Constructed terrestrial habitats including buildings and the transport network follow path = No.

Answers: Yes ( 014 ) No [ J ]

Question 014 :   Semi-natural aquatic fauna or flora?

Constructed aquatic habitats (such as marinas, harbours, canals and ponds etc) which support a semi-natural aquatic fauna and flora follow path = Yes. Constructed aquatic habitats which are virtually devoid of plant and animal life or which have an un-naturally restricted species list or which are dominated by exotic species follow path = No. Highly artificial saline habitats such as industrial lagoons and saltworks or habitats with heavily contaminated water follow path = No.

Answers: Yes ( 015 ) No [ J ]

Question 015 :   Marine?

Constructed marine habitats with semi-natural fauna or flora (path = Yes), are separated from inland constructed non-marine surface water habitats with semi-natural fauna or flora (path = No). (See note 3 for definition of marine).

Answers: Yes [ A (part) ] No [ C (part) ]

Question 002 :   Subterranean?

The criterion separates subterranean non-marine caves and passages and underground waters (path = Yes).

Answers: Yes [ H (subterranean part) ] No ( 003 )

Question 003 :   Marine?

Marine habitats including marine littoral habitats (path = Yes) are distinguished. Note that marine habitats are directly connected to the oceans, i.e. part of the continuous body of water which covers the greater part of the earth’s surface and which surrounds its land masses. Marine waters may be fully saline, brackish or almost fresh. Marine habitats include those below spring high tide limit (or below mean water level in non-tidal waters), coastal saltmarshes, and also enclosed coastal saline or brackish waters, without a permanent surface connection to the sea but either with intermittent surface or sub-surface connections (as in lagoons). Waterlogged littoral zones of the sea above the spring high tide limit in tidal waters are included with marine habitats (path = Yes). Rockpools in the supralittoral zone are considered as enclaves of the marine zone and follow the marine path. Waterlogged saltmarsh habitats and saline or brackish pools above the mean water level of non-tidal marine waters (parts of the geolittoral) are included with marine habitats and follow path = Yes; non-saline habitats above the mean water level in non-tidal waters follow path = No. Free-draining supralittoral habitats adjacent to marine habitats normally only affected by spray or splash and old strandlines characterised by terrestrial invertebrates follow path = No.

Answers: Yes [ A ] No ( 004 )

Question 004 :   Coastal influence?

Habitats occupying coastal features and characterised by their proximity to the sea (salt spray, wave or ice erosion), including beaches, cliffs, coastal dunes and wooded coastal dunes and dune-slack pools, are separated (path = Yes) from other habitats (path = No). Note that habitats occupying coastal features but not characterised by salt spray, wave or ice erosion follow path = No. Note also that habitats which are characterised primarily by temperature (such as garrigues and phryganas) rather than by their proximity to the sea also follow path = No.

Answers: Yes [ B ] No ( 005 )

Question 005 :   Open water?

Habitats with open water (e.g. rivers, streams, lakes and pools) and the littoral zones of the waterbodies (path = Yes) are separated from other terrestrial habitats including those with the water table permanently at or near the surface, but normally without free-standing water. Note that waterlogged habitats with integral pools of open water are considered as complexes. Enclosed coastal saline or brackish waters, without a permanent surface connection to the sea but either with intermittent surface or sub-surface connections (as in lagoons) are categorised under A Marine habitats; dune-slack pools characterised by their proximity to the sea are categorised under B Coastal habitats.

Answers: Yes [ C ] No ( 006 )

Question 006 :   Dominated by trees?

Habitats where the dominant vegetation is, or was until very recently, trees, with a canopy cover of at least 10% are distinguished (path = Yes) from habitats dominated by other types of vegetation or without vegetation or dominated by animal communities. Trees are typically single-stemmed and are normally able to reach a height of 5 m at maturity but this height may be lower at high latitudes or altitudes. Note that lines of trees, coppices, and very recently clear-felled areas with pre-existing ground cover, not yet re-stocked and with no succession to weedy vegetation follow path = Yes. Occasionally tall shrubs, especially some riverine alders (Alnus) and willows (Salix) may have a woodland type structure and follow path = Yes. Tree heaths, for example tree like formations of Erica arborea, also follow path = Yes. Sparsely wooded areas of grassland with canopy cover of 5 - 10%, including parkland, and clear-felled areas with successional weedy communities follow path = No and are categorised under E, Grasslands and lands dominated by forbs, mosses or lichens. Hedges which may have occasional tall trees follow path = No, and are categorised under F, Heathland, scrub and tundra. Dwarf trees at the arctic and alpine tree limit (i.e. krummholz under conditions where mature individuals are less than 3 m high) follow path = No; these are categorised under F, Heathland, scrub and tundra. Canopy cover 10% and height 5 m are taken from the FAO TBFRA 2000 definitions (Temperate and Boreal Forest Resource Assessment 2000). It should be noted that in some areas e.g. the Boreal zone, the normal dividing point is 30%. Statistics produced at a regional scale might reflect this divergence.

Answers: Yes [ G ] No ( 007 )

Question 007 :   Humidity

The criterion separates habitats which are waterlogged; those which are characterised by the presence of permafrost; and other. Waterlogged refers to habitats which are saturated, with the water table at or above ground level for at least half of the year, e.g. bogs, marshes, carr vegetation. Permafrost relates to habitats where the soil is at a temperature of less than 0oC throughout the year (see glossary). The other path should be followed in the case of: habitats which are: always dry; mesic, moist or humid; only seasonally wet; regularly but infrequently flooded or occasionally flooded by extreme weather conditions but which are free-draining; wet but not waterlogged; permanent snow and ice.

Answers: other ( 009 ) waterlogged ( 008 ) permafrost [ F ]

Question 008 :   Dominant vegetation

Waterlogged terrestrial habitats are divided according to the type of dominant vegetation: shrubs; or other. Note that shrubs refers to larger species such as some willows (Salix spp.) but dwarf shrub species (for example ericoid species) follow path = other. Note also that habitats dominated by trees (G) are separated earlier (note 6).

Answers: shrubs [ F ] other [ D ]

Question 009 :   % vegetation cover

Habitats with less than 30% vegetation cover are separated from those with greater than 30% vegetation cover. Note that chasmophytic, scree and cliff vegetation follow path = <30%.

Answers: >30% ( 010 ) <30% [ H (above ground part) ]

Question 010 :   Dominant vegetation

Habitats with greater than 30% vegetation cover are divided according to the type of dominant vegetation: shrubs or dwarf shrubs; or other grasses and non-woody vegetation (including bryophytes and lichens where cover is greater than 30%). Note that habitats dominated by trees (G) are separated earlier (note 6).

Answers: shrubs or dwarf shrubs [ F ] other [ E ]