... Vegetation Classification. The phase 1 survey had already identified two distinct areas of the woodland were identified, a semi-natural Ash woodland and a fringing area of Hawthorn scrub land. Within these areas 5 quadrates of 20m?20m were taken to sample the canopy cover, and within each quadrate an additional 5m?5m quadrate was taken to sample the ground flora. Within each quadrate, plant species were identified and the percentage area covered by each species was estimated. The results for each site (see appendix 2) were then analysed using the computer programme TABLEFIT. In addition these results were double-checked by using a dichotomous key provided in the NVC handbook (NCC, 1989a) 2.3 Survey effort The surveys were conducted by 4 MSc. students from the University of Sunderland's Environmental Management programme. The surveys were carried out on the 18th and 19th of March 2003 during fine weather conditions. The total time spend in the field ...

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