Grup de Recerca de Geobotànica i Cartografia de la Vegetació

The habitats map of Albera massif

The "Massís de l'Albera" Natural Site is part of the Natura 2000 network. It covers an area of 16,308 hectares and extends by the municipalities of La Jonquera, Cantallops Peralada Mollet de Peralada, Sant Climent Sescebes, Espolla, Rabós, Vilamaniscle, Garriguella, Vilajuïga, Llançà, Colera and Portbou, all of the Alt Emporda region. This area includes completely the Natural Site of National Interest named "l'Albera", of 3466 hectares, and is divided into two sections: the Western, which includes the highest part of the massif and the headwaters of Orlina river, and the eastern, around the monastery of Sant Quirze de Colera.

The survey has been done using orthophotomaps at 1: 5,000 and 1: 2,500 scale of the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (infrared and color). The fieldwork was conducted during the spring and summer of 2016 and 2017. The legend is constituted by CORINE units contained and explained in the Manual of Habitats of Catalonia. The cartography is structured in two layers, one of polygons and the other of points, each of which carries information from the CORINE habitats and Habitats of Community Interest (HCI). The minimum area has been set to 0.2 hectares. The habitats that occupy less area are represented with points. A total of 172 habitats and 32 habitats of community interest (HCI) were recognized; of these 32, only 3 have the character of priority. In order to facilitate the reading and interpretation of the map, a layer has been added to the download file that contains, at the same time, the information from the polygon layer and the point layer (these converted into polygons equivalent to the area occupied by the habitat they contain).

The Natural Environment Planning Service (Department of Territory and Sustainability, Generalitat of Catalonia) has promoted and funded the mapping of the habitats of this natural site.

Authors: Jordi Bou, Estela Illa, Jordi Carreras and Miquel Jover.
Implementation period: 2016 and 2017.
Delivery Date: 2017.