EUNIS habitat types as nanopublications

This repo is to create nanopublications for the EUNIS habitat type definitions.

Source data

Source files for the EUNIS habitat classification are stored in data/ and downloaded from the European Environment Agency (EEA) datashare by scripts/download-data.sh.

Three files cover two distinct purposes:

1. the revised (post-2019) classifications for marine and terrestrial habitats, with crosswalks to other typologies;
2. the legacy EUNIS 2007 classification with its 2012/2019 description revisions, which is still referenced by the revised versions at lower hierarchy levels.

EUNIS marine habitat classification 2022 including crosswalks.xlsx

Revised EUNIS marine classification, version March 2022. 1.59 MB.

Sheet	Rows	Content
Benthic habitats	~1,635	Benthic habitats, split per regional sea at level 3 (ATL, ARC, BAL, BLS, MED)
Pelagic habitats	~1,665	Pelagic water column habitats
Ice associated	~27	Sea-ice and iceberg-associated habitats
Read me	—	Notes on coding, versioning, and crosswalk conventions

Each habitat row carries: sea, Level, Code, Name, Description, source classification info, and crosswalks to EUNIS 2012, Habitats Directive Annex I, and the European Red List of Habitats (including EU28 / EU28+ conservation status). Pelagic and ice-associated sheets omit the Annex I / Red List columns because those typologies have no pelagic or ice entries.

Benthic level‑2 codes follow a systematic zone × substrate matrix (e.g. MA1–MG6: littoral/infralittoral/…/abyssal × rock/biogenic/coarse/mixed/sand/mud). Codes starting with M are benthic, MH pelagic, MJ ice-associated. The 2022 update focused on Atlantic habitats (additions and recoding under MC12*, MB222*, etc.).

Crosswalk relationship qualifiers: = equal, # overlap, < narrower, > wider, blank = new/unlinked.

EUNIS terrestrial habitat classification 2021_1 including crosswalks.xlsx

Revised EUNIS terrestrial classification, latest update January 2023 (filename still reads 2021_1). 1.44 MB.

Sheet	Level-1 code	Rows	Habitat group
Coastal	N	~189	Coastal habitats
Grassland	R	~768	Grasslands and forb/moss/lichen dominated lands
Heathland	S	~818	Heathland, scrub and tundra
Forest	T	~1,424	Forest and other wooded land
Sparsely vegetated	U	~284	Inland habitats with little soil / sparse vegetation
Man-made	V	~275	Vegetated man-made habitats
Wetlands	Q	~393	Wetlands (added in the January 2023 update)
Read me	—	~147	Notes, code-change table, sources

Level‑1 codes were renamed in the 2021 revision to avoid clashes with EUNIS 2012 (e.g. B→N, E→R, F→S, G→T, H→U, I→V, D→Q). Letters I and O are avoided to prevent confusion with digits. The revision reaches down to level 3; lower levels are inherited from EUNIS 2012.

Each row carries: Level, Code, Name, Description, Source, top-20 diagnostic / constant / dominant species, and crosswalks to EUNIS 2012, Bern Convention Resolution 4, Habitats Directive Annex I, European Red List of Habitats (with EU28 / EU28+ status), MAES ecosystems, IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology, Corine Land Cover, and Syntaxa (phytosociological plant communities). Forest and Heathland sheets additionally include EUNIS 2017 columns, reflecting an intermediate 2017 revision.

Same relationship qualifiers as the marine file, plus ≈ (approximately equal) and <> (mutual partial overlap, Syntaxa only). NA in Red List columns marks habitats not assessed.

The Read me sheet also lists habitats that could not be formally defined in the EUNIS-Esy expert system (e.g. R71–R73 wooded pasture mosaics, T41–T43 successional/coppice/felled forest stages).

EUNIS habitat classification 2007 - Revised descriptions 2012 amended 2019.xls

Legacy EUNIS 2007 classification with revised descriptions (2012, amended 2019). 2.85 MB. Excel 97–2003 format (.xls).

Sheet	Rows	Content
descriptions	5,286	Flat list of all EUNIS 2007 habitats
Read me	12	Revision notes and references
Feuil3	empty	—

Columns: Habitat level, EUNIS habitat code, EUNIS habitat name, NEW Description, Author, Date, Title. The classification structure itself was not changed in 2012/2019 — the revision replaces Palaearctic and UK Marine codes used inside the descriptions at level 5 and below with their EUNIS equivalents.

This is the typology referenced as "EUNIS 2012" by the marine and terrestrial crosswalk columns in the two files above.

Crosswalk targets referenced across files

Abbrev.	Full name
Annex I	EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) Annex I habitat types
Red List	European Red List of Habitats (Janssen et al. 2016)
Resolution 4	Bern Convention Resolution No. 4 (1996) habitats
MAES	Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services
IUCN	IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology
CLC	Corine Land Cover
Syntaxa	European Vegetation Checklist / phytosociological syntaxa