ITE MERLEWOOD LAND CLASSIFICATION OF GREAT-BRITAIN

The Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE) has classified the 1 km squ ares in Great Britain (GB) into thirty-two environmental strata, terme d land classes, as a basis for ecological survey. The classes have bee n used in biogeographical studies of the distribution of individual sp ecies and species assemblages. The concept behind the technique is tha t there is an association between the environmental character of land and ecological parameters. The initial classification was based on a s ample of squares drawn from a regular grid. The data for the 1212 1 km squares classified were drawn from published maps; the number of squa res was limited by the available computing power. Subsequently the ava ilability of more powerful computers and the need to improve geographi cal definition have led to the allocation of every 1 km square to its appropriate class. This paper has been written to summarise the princi ples involved in the development of the system and indicate the range of projects for which it has been used. The extension of the classific ation from a sample to the complete coverage of GB revealed the import ance of the structure and style of data used to produce the classifica tion. The significance of these conclusions for future work is discuss ed, with particular reference to automated methods of data capture.