97
and Schapire 1996), Decision Trees (Breiman 1984), and Support Vector Machines
(Mountrakis et al. 2011).. An ensemble of classifiers based on decision trees are also
proving popular such as Random Forest (Breiman 2001). As Chan and Paelinckx
(2008) stated, no single algorithm has demonstrated clear superiority for all problems therefore it is recommended that multiple techniques are investigated for mapping applications.
Study Area
Coastal and near shore environments contain a wide range of habitats that are often
characterised by high biodiversity, including rocky cliffs, shore platforms, sandy
beaches, dunes, salt marshes and mudflats. Wales has a total coastline length of
approximately 1600 km (Brazier et al. 2007). Geologically, north and west Wales
are mostly composed of relatively hard rocks such as slates, mudstones and sandstones, while south and south-east Wales is dominated by softer rocks such as
shales, coal measures and limestone (Webb et al. 2010). The Welsh coastline supports a wealth of habitats and c.70% is protected by environmental or conservation
designations (Williams and Davies 2001). This study focuses on a sand dune ecosystem in south east Wales, called Kenfig Burrows, The Kenfig Special Area of
Conservation (SAC) is a site of European importance (Fig. 1), a National Nature
Reserve (NNR) and and a UK Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Annex
I habitats that are contained are listed in Table 1.
The dune system at Kenfig is stabilizing and suffering an ongoing loss of
successionally- young habitats, including successionally-young humid dune slack
vegetation which supports populations of the rare and declining fen orchid, Liparis
loeselii. The entire UK population of L.loeselli var. ovata (which is listed in Annex
II of the EC Habitats Directive) occurs at Kenfig.’ This species is also protected by
the 1992 Bern Convention and Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1992.
Slack mowing, managed by Bridgend Borough Council, combined with stock
grazing, occurs on a regular cycle at Kenfig. The blowout enlargements and rejuvenation areas at Kenfig are trial management interventions that have the potential to
improve the mobility of sand at Kenfig, though any sand movement to date has been
local in nature. The fen orchid restoration scrapes have been more successful in
recreating successionally-young humid dune slack vegetation at Kenfig, and c.15%
of these had been recolonised by fen orchids at the time of writing. These scrapes
are unlikely to increase sand mobility of the site, but they do provide more
opportunities for the spread of the stress tolerating species associated with the
successionally- young slack habitats. A need for increased grazing levels stimulated
the building of a 3.7 km fence in the north of the site, which excludes areas of the
dune system. However, this has had a negligible impact on the availability of bare
sand (Pye and Blott 2011).
Mapping Coastal Habitats in Wales
and Schapire 1996), Decision Trees (Breiman 1984), and Support Vector Machines
(Mountrakis et al. 2011).. An ensemble of classifiers based on decision trees are also
proving popular such as Random Forest (Breiman 2001). As Chan and Paelinckx
(2008) stated, no single algorithm has demonstrated clear superiority for all problems therefore it is recommended that multiple techniques are investigated for mapping applications.
Study Area
Coastal and near shore environments contain a wide range of habitats that are often
characterised by high biodiversity, including rocky cliffs, shore platforms, sandy
beaches, dunes, salt marshes and mudflats. Wales has a total coastline length of
approximately 1600 km (Brazier et al. 2007). Geologically, north and west Wales
are mostly composed of relatively hard rocks such as slates, mudstones and sandstones, while south and south-east Wales is dominated by softer rocks such as
shales, coal measures and limestone (Webb et al. 2010). The Welsh coastline supports a wealth of habitats and c.70% is protected by environmental or conservation
designations (Williams and Davies 2001). This study focuses on a sand dune ecosystem in south east Wales, called Kenfig Burrows, The Kenfig Special Area of
Conservation (SAC) is a site of European importance (Fig. 1), a National Nature
Reserve (NNR) and and a UK Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The Annex
I habitats that are contained are listed in Table 1.
The dune system at Kenfig is stabilizing and suffering an ongoing loss of
successionally- young habitats, including successionally-young humid dune slack
vegetation which supports populations of the rare and declining fen orchid, Liparis
loeselii. The entire UK population of L.loeselli var. ovata (which is listed in Annex
II of the EC Habitats Directive) occurs at Kenfig.’ This species is also protected by
the 1992 Bern Convention and Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1992.
Slack mowing, managed by Bridgend Borough Council, combined with stock
grazing, occurs on a regular cycle at Kenfig. The blowout enlargements and rejuvenation areas at Kenfig are trial management interventions that have the potential to
improve the mobility of sand at Kenfig, though any sand movement to date has been
local in nature. The fen orchid restoration scrapes have been more successful in
recreating successionally-young humid dune slack vegetation at Kenfig, and c.15%
of these had been recolonised by fen orchids at the time of writing. These scrapes
are unlikely to increase sand mobility of the site, but they do provide more
opportunities for the spread of the stress tolerating species associated with the
successionally- young slack habitats. A need for increased grazing levels stimulated
the building of a 3.7 km fence in the north of the site, which excludes areas of the
dune system. However, this has had a negligible impact on the availability of bare
sand (Pye and Blott 2011).
Mapping Coastal Habitats in Wales