A COMPARISON OF LAND-COVER TYPES IN AN ECOLOGICAL FIELD SURVEY IN NORTHERN ENGLAND AND A REMOTELY-SENSED LAND-COVER MAP OF GREAT-BRITAIN

Earth-orbiting remote sensing satellites have important roles to play in resource assessment and monitoring changes in land cover. However, there will often be a need to relate the land cover types identified f rom the classification of satellite imagery to other classifications o f land cover, and particularly those familiar to practical conservatio nists working in the field. This paper compares the land cover types r ecognised in the first remotely sensed land cover map of Great Britain with those of a widely used ecological field survey method (the Phase -1 survey technique of the former Nature Conservancy Council of Great Britain) within a sample area of 188 km2 in Northern England. Digitise d field maps were combined with the remotely sensed land cover map wit hin a geographical information system (GIS) to produce a matrix of cor respondence linking the two classifications. The results are discussed with an emphasis on the factors underlying the observed differences b etween the two sets of map data. Two potential applications of the lan d cover map are investigated - first in the mapping of dwarf shrub veg etation (a habitat which has declined over the last 50 years), and sec ond in the detection of coniferous afforestation (a significant cause of semi-natural habitat loss in upland Britain).