Abstract

Land cover is an important component of landscape character. The spatial configuration and heterogeneity of land cover can influence species distributions and patterns of biodiversity. Sustainable countryside planning and land management policy in Great Britain requires the mapping of land cover heterogeneity at a national scale. Here, we map four measures of land cover heterogeneity across Great Britain using Land Cover Map 2000. We calculate land cover richness, diversity, evenness and similarity within and between 1 x 1 km grid cells of the British National Grid. From this we are able to identify assemblages of land cover types that are associated with high or low landscape heterogeneity, and where they occur geographically.