British National Vegetation Classification

The National Vegetation Classification (NVC) is a system of classifying natural habitat types according to the vegetation they contain. Different systems exist in different countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. A large scientific meeting of ecologists, botanists, and other related professionals in the United Kingdom resulted in the publication of a compendium of five books [1] by Cambridge University Press which detail the incidence of plant species in 5 major habitat types in the United Kingdom natural environment. They are the first systematic and comprehensive account of the vegetation types of this country. They cover all natural, semi-natural and major artificial habitats in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland), representing the fruits of fifteen years of research by leading plant ecologists. From the data collated from the books was developed a commercial software product called 'MATCH' [2] which helps to classify vegetation identified into one of the many habitat types found in Great Britain.