Habitat

-- Name -- habitat

Abstract class to cover Geographical areas characterised by specific ecological conditions, processes, structure and (life support) functions that physically support the organisms that live there. -- Description -- Includes terrestrial and aquatic areas distinguished by geographical, abiotic and biotic features, whether entirely natural or semi-natural that are characterised by specific ecological conditions, processes, structure and (life support) functions that physically support the organisms that live there. Areas may consist of one or many habitat types, depending on the mapping method. Habitat type encoding generally refers to habitat classification schemes. There are many classification schemes in use, only few of them would allow for cross-boarder comparison and are harmonized on a European level. Includes areas represented by natural boundaries and classified according to their biodiversity, ecological or (geo-)physical conditions with delineations of their own, rather than being mere attributes for other feature types. Habitats may in total or partly be overlapping with Protected Sites (e.g. for nature conservation purposes), however, they need to have a geometry of their own, because both, Protected Sites and habitats/biotopes features may change over time, without any obligation for change of the other fetaure type. Habitats are mapped based on remote sensing image interpretation (e.g. aerial photograph interpretation) and/or, most frequently, fieldwork; they are sometimes even based on modelling. Mapping results may be represented by distinct polygons or by Grid coverages. Some mapping methods allow for a collection of various habitat types to constitute one feature (complex biotopes/habitats), while others only have one habitat type per feature (typical examples for the latter are habitats derived from remote sensing data and their modelling process). Besides their typological reference representing ecological concepts, habitats support concrete organisms that live there. Thus it is important to know, which species constitute/were found in a given habitat, and for the plant species covering the surface it is helpful to know, in which phytocoenoses they are organized. This information is typical of terrestrial mapping, but will be absent from other mapping methods for obvious reasons. Therefore, this information is voidable.