AUTOMATED HABITAT ANNOTATION OF BIRD SPECIES LISTS - AN AID IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTANCY

The Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP) has compiled a compreh ensive distributional database for birds. This information is potentia lly valuable to environmental consultants, planners and managers. A co mputer-based routine was developed to enhance the usefulness of the in formation to this user group. The routine produces habitat-specific sp ecies lists and includes annotations on endemism, Red Data status and other relevant information. A hierarchical system of habitat categorie s and indicator and associate species statuses was designed to maximiz e the information which can be derived from the databank. The report w as designed to facilitate prioritization and decision-making. The appr oach is novel in its use of a species list to generate information on habitat.