VEGET
Vegetation cover and/or land use

Vegetation cover or land use, or both (ref: NWWG, 1987 ; PS, 1988).

CODE  CLASS
      DESCRIPTION

A

Agricultural crops
Cultivated field crops.

B

Bog
Bogs may be treed or treeless and are usually covered with Sphagnum spp. and ericaceous shrubs.

C

Coniferous forest
Dominated by needle-leaved, cone-bearing species. In the Subarctic Ecoclimatic Regions this refers to an open lichen coniferous forest; in the Boreal Ecoclimatic Regions this refers to a closed canopy coniferous forest.

D

Deciduous forest
Dominated by broadleaf species.

F

Fen
Dominated by sedges, grasses, reeds, and brown mosses with some shrubs and, at times, a sparse tree layer.

G

Grassland
Perennial native grassland or improved pasture.

H

Arctic desert
Unvegetated areas in the High Arctic; may be caused by either climatic (too cold or too dry) or edaphic (low soil nutrients or toxic substrates such as salt) factors, or a combination of both.

L

Lichen
Dominated by lichens with significant amounts of mosses and usually including low to medium ericaceous shrubs.

M

Mixed forest
Composed of both coniferous and deciduous tree species (refer to codes C and D).

P

Parkland
A forest - grassland transition consisting of a mosaic of trembling aspen stands interspersed with patches of cropland, grassland, and meadow.

R

Marshland
A mosaic surface pattern composed of pools or channels interspersed with clumps of emergent sedges, grasses, rushes, and reeds, and bordered by grassy meadows and peripheral bands of shrubs or trees; submerged and floating aquatics flourish in open water areas.

S

Shrubland
Dominated by shrub species.

SP

Sedge peat
Dominated by Carex spp. and generally moderately decomposed and matted; the sedge leaves are readily identifiable to the naked eye.

TA

Tundra, alpine
Treeless terrain occurring at high altitudes, immediately above the forest zone and the upper altitudinal timberline; vegetation consists of lichens, mosses, sedges, grasses, forbs, and low shrubs (<20 cm) such as heath, dwarf willows, and birches.

TH

Tundra, high shrub
Dominated by 20-60 cm high shrubs occurring in the Low Arctic Ecoclimatic Region.

TM

Tundra, medium shrub
Dominated by 10 - 20 cm high shrubs occurring in the Mid-Arctic Ecoclimatic Region.

TL

Tundra, low shrub
Dominated by <10 cm high shrubs occurring in the High Arctic Ecoclimatic Region.

TB

Tundra, broken herb - low shrub
Dwarf shrubs, Dryas and willows are important components of the vegetation. Other vascular plants are present but have low total coverage. Crustose lichens are common on the ground surface. Ground cover ranges from 10-20%.

U

Unvegetated surface

W

Meadow, wet
Dominated by sedges and cotton grass, with "wet" mosses (e.g., Mnium spp., Sphagnum spp.) and occasional herbs.

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Non-applicable

effective Version 1.0 Contact: Peter Schut