Global Data

User friendly public domain (free) software links for use in rapid resource assessment

CBM is closely associated with the development and use of two very useful software packages that can assist firstly, in the design of sampling approaches to natural resource survey, in particular biodiversity, and secondly in the subsequent spatial extrapolation of results from such surveys – such as the actual and potential distribution of key species of concern to management. Two packages known as VegClass and DOMAIN.

VegClass:

VegClass is a computer-assisted data-entry and analytical tool for general vegetation classification and analysis. This is built on a novel system of classifying vegetation according to morphological adaptations to environment as well as species, vegetation structure and site physical features. References to the theory and practice underlying this software are available in scientific literature , as well as on the internet

An English version of VegClass ( Fig. 1) is available as a CD-ROM or via the website of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) from whence it can be downloaded directly [http://www.cifor.org/vegclass/index.htm ].

The software runs under Windows® with instructions in simple English. With minimal training it can be used as a powerful tool for both entering and compiling field data using a formal protocol that allows transfer into a wide range of industrial computerized spreadsheet and relational database formats such as Excel® and Microsoft Access®.

Apart from being useful in the field, VegClass is an excellent tool for training purposes and has been successfully used as such in humid tropical West Africa (Cameroon), SE Asia (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines) as well as Perú and Brazil.

Because it provides a ready means of producing standardized data sets, VegClass is rapidly becoming popular in vegetation surveys in different countries as it provides a ready means of comparing data within and between regions.

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To date CBM has approximately 1800 global sites where VegClass has been used to record data ranging from the arctic, the sub-antarctic, hot and cold deserts, tropical mountains and swamps to give but a few examples.

Recently VegClass was used to record what is arguably the world’s richest terrestrial vegetation biodiversity hotspot in Riau, Central Sumatra where an extraordinary 217 vascular plant species were recorded in on 200m2 transect.

References

1.Gillison, A.N. and Carpenter, G. (1997). A generic plant functional attribute set and grammar for dynamic vegetation description and analysis. Funct. Ecol. 11, 775-783.
2.Gillison, A.N. and Brewer, K.R.W. (1985). The use of gradient-directed transects or gradsects in natural resource survey. J. Environ. Manage. 20, 103-127
3.Gillison, A.N. (2002). A generic, computer-assisted method for rapid vegetation classification and survey: tropical and temperate case studies. Conservation Ecology 6: 3. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol6/iss2/art3
4.Gillison, A.N. Vegetation Survey and Habitat Assessment of the Tesso Nilo Forest Complex; Pekanbaru, Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Report prepared for WWF-US. (October-November, 2001).