TALLHERB/RUDERAL

Tall herb/ruderal: vegetation associated with ungrazed disturbed or neglected land. The most frequent species include nettle, bramble, thistle and dock.
Habitat examples: Click on an image to enlarge.
     
Tall herb/ruderal: distribution in Northern Ireland.
Tall herb/ruderal vegetation covers 0.6% of NI, 8349 ha (Table below). The lowlands contain most and have a greater percentage cover (0.8%) compared with the uplands (0.2%).
Tall herb/ruderal: predicted distribution map (1998).
Tall herb/ruderal: net change 1991 - 1998.
Tall herb/ruderal habitat decreased in area by 13% (-1,260 ha) mainly in the Wider Countryside (-18%, -1,488 ha).
Tall herb/ruderal: summary of losses and gains 1991 - 1998.

Tall herb/ruderal: main losses and gains 1991 - 1998.
Loss of Tall herb/ruderal vegetation to agricultural grassland was mainly by conversion to agricultural grassland dominated by ryegrass. Loss was also to Species-rich dry grassland by grazing land recorded as ungrazed at baseline. Gains of Tall herb/ruderal vegetation occurred from agricultural grassland, a change indicative of reduced grazing. 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  %
15 <1       Broadleaf seminatural woodland 148 <1  
76 <1       Scrub - dense 60 1  
514 5 *     Scrub - scattered 81 <1  
12 <1       Coniferous plantation 50 <1  
1354 14       Species-rich dry grassland 173 2  
0         Species-rich wet grassland 306 1 *
0         Bent/fescue grassland 87 <1  
0         Gorse heath - scattered 110 3 *
7 <1       Poor fen 265 <1 *
377 4       Italian/perennial ryegrass 5 <1  
29 <1       Ploughed land 460 4  
1052 11 *     Perennial ryegrass 192 <1 *
76 <1       Mixed species grassland 83 <1 *
469 5 *     Other agricultural grassland 1328 <1 *
655 7 *     Buildings/curtilage nc    
465 5       Bare ground/surfaces nc    
Note : % = percentage of 1991 habitat area.
           * = indicates significant transition (p = 0.05).
          nc = not calculated.
 
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