Nicola Arndt und Matthias Pohl - Neobiota

account the WWF map of Eurasian ecological regions. This process comprised a cleaning of hand
drawn lines in the WWF map according to the underlying BfN 1 : 2,500,000 classes (Figure 12). In the
final version of DMEER the minimum map unit was abandoned. The final DMEER map (Figure 13)
covers all the area covered by the BfN map and the ITE map and its 69 classes (ecoregions) and also
has the input from European Environment Agency (EEA) experts and the WWF.
Figure 12 (Left): Mismatch between the BfN 2.5 million map and the hand-drawn lines of WWF in Southern
Spain at 1.5 million.
Figure 13 (Right): Final DMEER Map with 69 classesis a set of maps with different classification groups and is
provided with a full database. For each class in each classification system it is possible to know the natural
vegetation type, the land classification type with 21 parameters including temperature, precipitation and altitude,
as well as summarized statistics for a class of polygons: mean, max, min, std deviation and variance.
6 Conclusions
This cluster analysis seems to provide a good classification in an ecological perspective, but raises
three questions:
– What is the smallest mapping unit to be considered, given the scale and the purpose of the map,
that would affect the whole cluster tree or dendrogram?
– Could other classification algorithms, such as neural networks, provide a more suitable and
reproducible classification?
– Is it possible to derive a DMEER with large continuous and homogenous ecological regions with
acceptable loss of detail, with a much lower number of polygons considering a final scale of
1:2,500,000 and the ITE map units?
DMEER is meant to be a powerful and efficient step toward setting land management priorities. It
provides focus, direction and accountability for conservation efforts. Among the limitations are the
following aspects:
– DMEER will not show habitats smaller than the minimum mapping unit. Thus, many important
habitat elements, such as meadows and wetlands, may be missed;
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