Ecological vegetation class

rdf:langString Ecological vegetation class

rdf:langString An ecological vegetation class (EVC) is a component of the vegetation classification system developed and used by the state of Victoria, Australia, since 1994, for mapping floristic biodiversity. Ecological vegetation classes are groupings of vegetation communities based on floristic, structural, and ecological features. The Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning has defined all of the EVCs within Victoria. An EVC consists of one or a number of floristic communities that appear to be associated with a recognisable environmental niche, and which can be characterised by a number of their adaptive responses to ecological processes that operate at the landscape scale level. Each ecological vegetation class is described through a combination of its floristic, life-form, and reproductive strategy profiles, and through an inferred fidelity to particular environmental attributes. Although there are more than 300 individual EVCs, some can be grouped together to form a bioregion, which is a geographical approach to classifying the environment using a climate, geomorphology, geology, soils and vegetation. There are 28 bioregions across Victoria. Each EVC within a biogregion can be assigned a conservation status (see ), to indicate its degree of alteration since European settlement in Australia. To assist with the assessment of an EVC within a bioregion, benchmarks have been established to ensure that assessments are carried out in a standard fashion across Victoria.