Habitats

The monitoring program provides data on the distribution, extent and conservation status of the main habitat units present in Doñana. These include:

1. Forest and shrub cover: Changes in the cover of the main types of forest and shrub vegetation present in the Doñana National Park are monitored at 5-year intervals. This information is derived from a supervised classification of Landsat images, validated with ground-truthing data taken at permanent plots. See summary data below. Request raw data.

Changes in the cover of terrestrial vegetation at the Doñana National Park between 1999 and 2009.

In situ information collected at permanent plots includes:

1.1 & 1.2. Juniper and pine-juniper forests: Data from nine, 10x10 m, juniper-forest plots include the height, canopy width and length, leaf damage and flowering intensity of adults, as well as the number of seedlings and saplings per plot. These variables were also measured in eleven, 10x10 m, pine-juniper forest plots monitored from 2006 to 2012. See summary data below. Request raw data.

Left: Mean density of adult individuals at four monitoring plots with: (i) juniper forest on stabilized dune belts (Ojillo y Marqués) and sand sheets (Colonización); (ii) pine-juniper forest on dunes (Marismillas). Right: Mean fruit-production intensity and seedling density at one of the Juniper-forest monitoring plots(Marqués).

1.3. Shrubland: Data from 21, 15x15 m plots monitored since 2006 include estimates of cover and number of individuals per species, proportion of bare soil, species richness and species diversity per plot. See summary data below. Request raw data.

Annual changes in the shrub cover (% of surveyed area) and density (number of individuals per ha) at the Doñana monitoring plots.

Mean abundance (% cover) of the different species present at two types of shrub monitoring plots. “Monte Blanco”: dry shrubland (left). “Monte negro”: wet shrubland (right).

1.4. Gallery forest: The gallery forest of La Rocina Stream is monitored in 10 circular plots (15-m diameter), where the cover and density of each shrub and tree species is registered. See summary data below. Request raw data.

2. Cork oak forests and heronry: Data from the oak-tree monitoring program include yearly estimates of tree occupation (by large nesting birds), survival, health (using a defoliation index) and reproductive yield (acorn production and subsequent predation) of 126 adult trees present in or nearby the Doñana heronry; as well as biannual measurements of tree dendrometry. See summary data below. Request raw data.

Left: number of nests and percentage of defoliated cork-oak trees at the RBD heronry (N=53-178). Right: Leaf index (from 0 = completely defoliated, to 5 = 100% canopy cover) and acorn production (in kg/tree) of cork-oak trees surveyed at the RBD heronry (N=96-178).

3. Marshland: The vegetation of the Doñana marsh is monitored at 5-years intervals. The monitoring protocol combines the available cartographic information with thematic maps derived from a supervised classification of Landsat images. See summary data below. Request raw data.

Marsh vegetation maps derived from a reclassification of available cartography. Left pannel: MVM (2004). Right pannel: MSNV (2009). MVM: Marsh vegetation map published by the Regional Government (Dirección General de Gestión del Medio Natural) in 2010, based on data from 2004-5. MVSN: Park vegetaiton map published by the National parks Office (Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales) in 2014, based on data from 2009.