CEREALS

Cereals: mainly wheat, barley, oats and maize.
Habitat examples: Click on an image to enlarge.
     
Cereals: distribution in Northern Ireland.
Cereals cover 2.6% of NI (35,704 ha), (Table below). They are a predominantly lowland habitat (3.9%), most common in the Wider Countryside (3.8%) and the Mourne AONB.
Cereals: predicted distribution map (1998).
Cereals: net change 1991 - 1998.
The area of Cereal cover decreased significantly throughout NI by 30% (-15,361 ha).
Cereals: summary of losses and gains 1991 - 1998.

Cereals: main losses and gains 1991 - 1998.
The main loss of Cereals was by land use change to Perennial ryegrass. Habitats in the losses and gains table below are linked to their descriptors and NI data. Full details of all losses and gains are given in the technical report.
 
Losses
(1991 - 98)		 Habitats Gains
(1991 - 98)
ha  % ha  %
0         Species-rich dry grassland 64 <1  
2035 4 *     Other crops/vegetables 2921 22 *
8523 17 *     Italian/perennial ryegrass 2315 9  
3657 7 *     Ploughed land 1956 16  
24027 47 *     Perennial ryegrass 13662 3 *
0         Mixed species grassland 449 1  
2736 5 *     Other agricultural grassland 4551 1 *
205 <1 *     Buildings/curtilage nc    
Note : % = percentage of 1991 habitat area.
           * = indicates significant transition (p = 0.05).
          nc = not calculated.
 
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