National Survey of Limestone Pavement and Associated Habitats in Ireland

Published by: Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage

Licensed under: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0

Category: Environment

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This project completed a detailed field survey of 26 limestone pavement and associated habitat monitoring sites, and 17 proposed Natural Heritage Area (pNHA) sites. Several 100m x 100m (1ha) plots were selected within each monitoring site. The habitats within each plot were mapped using a GeoExplorer handheld GPS minicomputer (Trimble GeoXT). Within each plot a detailed species list was taken and at least one 1m x 1m relevé was recorded within each habitat type encountered. Other data recorded within each plot included management practises, notable species and pressures. Indicators were derived to assess structure and functions and future prospects at each monitoring site. For pNHA surveys, site notes were recorded throughout the site; each habitat type encountered was described, features of interest, pressures, fauna and notable species were also recorded. Data recorded during the pNHA survey, and data from the Burren Life Project (Anon. 2010) and Burren Farming for Conservation Project (Anon. 2011, Anon. 2012) were used in conjunction with the monitoring survey data to assess the national conservation status of limestone pavement and associated habitats in Ireland.

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Theme	Environment
Date released	2012-01-01
Date updated	2021-09-10
Dataset conforms to these standards	The INSPIRE Directive or INSPIRE lays down a general framework for a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) for the purposes of European Community environmental policies and policies or activities which may have an impact on the environment.
Rights notes	['http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/', 'Copyright Government of Ireland. This dataset was created by National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. This copyright material is licensed for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/', 'otherRestrictions']
Update frequency	Never
Language	English
Geographic coverage in GeoJSON format	{"type":"Polygon","coordinates":[[[-11.265947788472001, 51.205966241541006],[-11.265947788472001, 55.820224054041], [-5.7508110697222, 55.820224054041], [-5.7508110697222, 51.205966241541006], [-11.265947788472001, 51.205966241541006]]]}
Spatial Reference Systems (SRS)	TM75 / Irish Grid (EPSG:29903)
Vertical Extent	{"verticalDomainName": "EPSG Projection 5731 - Malin Head height", "minVerticalExtent": "0", "maxVerticalExtent": "1014"}
Provenance information	The NSLP_pNHA_habitat_map dataset is a polygon dataset which shows the habitats identified during the National Survey of Limestone Pavement and Associated Habitats in Ireland (Wilson & Fernandez 2013) within the pNHA sites. Habitats have been classified according to both Fossitt (2000) and the EU Habitats Directive Annex I habitats classifications. During the field survey habitats’ dots and habitats’ releves dots were recorded by use of a GeoExplorer handheld GPS minicomputer (Trimble GeoXT). The GPS positions were logged and stored on Terrasync software (Trimble). Post-processing of data was carried out to improve accuracy based on the Active GPS Network from Ordnance Survey Ireland to obtain sub-metre accuracy of data. This point datasets were imported into ArcMap 9.3 and these data was included in point datasets called NSLP_habitat_dots and NSLP_releve_data_dots. NSLP_habitat_dots dataset was given appropriate attribution such as site code, type (i.e. Fossitt (2000) habitat), comment (e.g. reference to site note provided in the individual site report), etc. NSLP_releve_data_dots dataset’s attribute table contains data related to the Fossit (2000) habitat type recorded on the field and the one given once vegetation analysis was undertaken, as well as EU Habitats Directive Annex I habitats type given to each releve after vegetation analysis was carried out. Both point datasets (NSLP_habitat_dots and NSLP_releve_data_dots) were used to create the NSLP_pNHA_habitat_map dataset which identifies habitats associated with each polygon and defines the spatial extent of each habitat recorded. 2005 OSi Ortho-photographs was used as background to define the extent of habitats recorded on the field. Again appropriate attribution was assigned to the polygons of the dataset. This dataset has been created using ArcMap 9.3. The source datum is the Irish National Grid.