Assessing the Annex I habitat 6210 calcareous grassland in Co. Roscommon, photo by Jim Martin
Client: National Parks & Wildlife Service
Following on from the 2007 pilot semi-natural grassland survey of counties Roscommon and Offaly, in 2008 BEC Consultants commenced an ongoing nationwide research project into the grasslands of Ireland. As of the end of 2010, 693 semi-natural grassland sites have been surveyed in counties Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Dublin, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Monaghan, Sligo, Offaly (one additional site) and Waterford. This included collecting botanical and environmental data from 2,773 relevés. The semi-natural grassland habitats within each site were digitally mapped and presented in ArcGIS. In addition, EU Annex I grassland habitats encountered during the project were surveyed and their condition assessed. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to analyse the vegetation data from 2008, 2009, 2010 and the 2007 pilot study (91 sites and 305 relevés) and a classification that contained 34 vegetation types was proposed. All data were stored in an Access database and Turboveg (a specialist database management system designed for the storage of vegetation data). The project is continuing into 2011 with surveys of counties Clare, Mayo, Meath and Westmeath.
Area of wet grassland, Co. Roscommon, photo by BEC Consultants
Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), photo by Jim Martin
Marsh fritillary butterfly (Euphydryas aurinia), photo by Aoife Delaney
Downloads
- O’Neill, F.H., Martin, J.R., Devaney, F.M., McNutt, K.E., Perrin, P.M. & Delaney, A. (2010) Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey Annual Report No. 3: Counties Donegal, Dublin, Kildare & Sligo. Report submitted to National Parks & Wildlife Service, Dublin.
- O’Neill, F.H., Martin, J.R., Perrin, P.M., Delaney, A.M., McNutt, K.E. & Devaney, F.M. (2009) Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey Annual Report No. 2: Counties Cavan, Leitrim, Longford and Monaghan. Report submitted to National Parks & Wildlife Service, Dublin.
- Martin, J.R., Perrin, P.M., Delaney, A.M., O’Neill, F.H. & McNutt, K.E. (2008) Irish Semi-natural Grasslands Survey Annual Report No. 1: Counties Cork and Waterford. Report submitted to National Parks & Wildlife Service, Dublin.
- Martin J.R., Gabbett, M., Perrin P.M. and Delaney, A. (2007) Semi-natural Grassland Survey of Counties Roscommon and Offaly. Report submitted to National Parks & Wildlife Service, Dublin.