Patent ID: 7681531

Claim:
A method of establishing a habitat value for at least one habitat type within a geographic site comprising one or more habitat types, the method comprising: determining a potential species group, the potential species group comprising vertebrate species that are potentially present at the geographic site; determining a set of potential ecological functions for each of the one or more habitat types, the set of potential ecological functions comprising a plurality of types of potential ecological interactions between species of the potential species group and the one or more habitat types at the geographic site; determining a functional capacity value for at least one selected habitat type of the one or more habitat types based on the potential ecological functions associated with the at least one selected habitat type; determining a habitat value for the at least one selected habitat type based at least in part upon the functional capacity value; and recording the determined habitat value for the at least one selected habitat type; wherein the act of determining the functional capacity value comprises determining a multivalue for the at least one selected habitat type by summing the number of species Si performing each potential ecological function KEFi in the selected habitat type and multiplying the sum by the percentage of the total area of the geographic site area occupied by the habitat type in accordance with the following equation: SMV =[Σ( Si )]×( A H /A S ), where: SMV is the multivalue for the selected habitat type, Si is the number of species performing each KEFi, A H is the area of the given habitat type, A S is the area of the entire site.