EUNIS Inland habitats with no or little soil and mostly with sparse vegetation probability maps - version 1, Nov. 2021

This metadata describes the EUNIS inland habitats with no or little soil and mostly with sparse vegetation probability maps distribution datasets created from habitat probability mapping. Probability maps are refined versions of habitat suitability maps. Suitability maps model areas where the environment is suitable for a certain habitat type. Probability maps include information on existing land cover and narrow the modelled suitable distribution to areas where the habitat type is probable to occur.

These habitat types are non-coastal habitats on substrates with no or little development of soil, mostly with less than 30% vegetation cover which are dry or only seasonally wet (with the water table at or above ground level for less than half of the year). Habitats which may have a high vegetation cover include crevices of rocks, screes or cliffs and habitats formed by carpets of moss. Includes subterranean non-marine caves and passages including underground waters and disused underground mines and habitats characterised by the presence of permanent snow and surface ice other than marine ice bodies

The verified inland habitats with no or little soil and mostly with sparse vegetation samples used are derived from the Braun-Blanquet database (http://www.sci.muni.cz/botany/vegsci/braun_blanquet.php?lang=en) which is a centralised database of vegetation plots and comprises copies of national and regional databases using a unified taxonomic reference database. The geographic extent of the distribution data are all European countries except Armenia and Azerbaijan.