Journal of Biogeography
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
A comparison of remotely sensed and pollen-based approaches to mapping Europe’s land cover
Jessie Woodbridge, Ralph M. Fyfe and Neil Roberts
Appendix S1 The refined pseudobiomization (PBM) method. The ‘winning’ score is the
class with the highest value after summing the square root transformed taxa percentages
assigned to the LCC. The ± 20 and ± 10 cut-off values were selected to assign semi-open
LCCs after experimentation with various threshold values.
Appendix S2 Pseudobiomization (PBM) pollen-assigned land-cover classes (LCCs) with
amalgamated remotely sensed CORINE classes and PBM-assigned pollen taxa. Taxa were
grouped at genus/species levels to suit the land-cover classification system.
LCC
Amalgamated
CORINE classes
Coniferous forest
Pollen taxa assigned for PBM
1a
Needle-leaf forest
Abies, Larix, Picea, Pinus, Taxus
1b
Broad-leaf forest
Broad-leaf forest
Olive groves
Vineyards
Fruit trees and berry
plantations
Acer, Aesculus, Alnus, Betula, Buxus, Carpinus,
Castanea, Celtis, Corylus, Crataegus, Daphne,
Fagus, Fraxinus, Hedera, Ilex, Juglans, Myrica,
Myrtaceae, Olea europaea, Parrotia, Platanus,
Populus, Prunus, deciduous Quercus, Rhamnaceae,
Salix, Sambucus nigra, Sorbus, Tilia, Ulmus, Vitis
1c
Mixed forest
(dominated by a mix of
needle-leaf and broadleaf forest)
Transitional
woodland–shrub
Mixed forest
Defined by thresholds between different forest
types
2
Semi-open vegetation
(mixed land cover
including both forest
and open vegetation)
Defined by thresholds
between other classes
Defined by thresholds between other classes
3a
Heath/scrubland
Moors and heathland
Peatbogs
Sclerophyllous
vegetation
Aellenia, Argania spinosa, Astragalus, Calluna,
Carex, Casuarina, Ceratonia, Casuarina,
Cistaceae, Cytisus/Genista, Echium, Empetrum,
Ephedra, Erica, Fontanesia/Phillyrea, Juniperus,
Ledum palustre, Ligustrum, Olea type, Pistacia,
Polygonum amphibium, evergreen Quercus,
Syringa, Tamarix
3b
Pastures/natural
grassland
Pastures
Natural grasslands
Anemone, Apiaceae, Asperula, Bunium, Bupleurum,
Caltha, Campanulaceae, Centaurea jacea,
Centaurea nigra, Centaurea scabiosa, Comarum
palustre, Compositae (Asteraceae), Dipsacaceae,
Epilobium, Filipendula, Galium, Gentiana,
Liguliflorae (Asteraceae), Papaveraceae, Plantago
alpina, Plantago coronopus, Plantago lanceolata,
Plantago tenuiflora, Pleurospermum austriacum,
Poaceae, Potentilla, Ranunculaceae, Rumex
acetosa/acetosella, Ruppia, Sanguisorba, Saxifraga,
Stachys, Succisa, Thalictrum, Trifolium, Trollius,
Urticaceae, Valerianaceae, Veronica, Viciaceae
3c
Arable/disturbed land
Non-irrigated arable
land
Permanently irrigated
land
Rice fields
Annual crops
associated with
permanent crops
Complex cultivation
patterns
Allium, Arctium, Artemisia, Asparagaceae,
Asteraceae type, Avena, Brassicaceae, Calligonum,
Caryophyllaceae, Centaurea collina, Centaurea
cyanus, Centaurea depressa, Centaurea Montana,
Centaurea rhenana, Centaurea solstitialis,
Centaurea type, Centaurium maritimum, Cerealia,
Chenopodiaceae, Fagopyrum, Hordeum,
Lamiaceae, Leguminosae, Linaceae, Noaea,
Phaseolus, Plantago albicans, Plantago atrata,
Plantago afra, Plantago cylindrica, Plantago
lusitanica, Plantago major, Plantago maritima,
Plantago media, Plantago montana, Plantago
ovata, Plantago psyllium, Plantago type,
Polygonum aviculare, Polygonum bistorta,
Polygonum cognatum, Polygonum persicaria,
Prosopis, Punica, Rumex alpestris, Rumex alpinus,
Rumex aquaticus, Rumex conglomeratus, Rumex
crispus, Rumex hydrolapathum, Rumex longifolius,
Rumex obtusifolius, Rumex sanguineus, Rumex
type, Secale, Silenaceae, Solanaceae, Spinacia,
Triticum, Zea
3d
Mixed open vegetation
(dominated by a
combination of
heath/scrubland,
pastures/natural
grassland and arable
land)
Land principally
occupied by
agriculture, with
significant areas of
natural vegetation
Agro-forestry areas
Defined by thresholds between open classes
Defined by thresholds
between other classes
Appendix S3 Confusion matrix illustrating the total closed forest (sum of needle-leaf, broadleaf and mixed forest), semi-open vegetation and total open (heath/scrubland, pasture/natural
grassland and arable land) percentage match between the CORINE and pseudobiomization
(PBM) pollen-inferred land-cover classes (LCCs) for 2471 European sites.
Pollen →
CORINE
↓
Closed
Semiopen
Open
Closed
53.18
39.21
25.88
Semi-open
21.36
22.89
13.42
Open
25.45
37.89
60.70