ID no.	Vegetation Type	Description	Corresponding Olson's vegetation type
1	Tropical rainforest	Broadleaved, tall, evergreen forest. Drip tips and buttress roots common on trees.	Main Tropical/Subtropical Forest; Broad-Leaved Humid Forest
2	Monsoon or dry forest	Largely or entirely deciduous closed forest in tropics.	No Olson analogue
3	Tropical woodland	More open, deciduous woody vegetation (more than 6m tall). Open canopy; less than 60% canopy cover.	Main Tropical/Subtropical Forest; Dry Forest and Woodland
4	Tropical thorn scrub and scrub woodland	Lower woody vegetation (less than 6m tall), generally open with wide gaps between the bushes/low trees, in frost-free climate	No Olson analogue
5	Tropical semi-desert	Very open. Between 2% and 10% vegetation cover. Scattered clumps of grass or small shrubs.	Nonpolar desert or semidesert (Sparse (rocky) vegetation, Other Desert and Semidesert, Cool Semidesert Scrub)
6	Tropical grassland	Greater than 20% vegetation cover. Mainly grassy, very few woody plants (less than 5% cover).	Tropical savanna or montane; Tropical Savanna and Woodland
7	Tropical extreme desert	Less than 2% vegetation cover. Almost entirely barren.	Nonpolar desert or semidesert (Sand Desert)
8	Savanna	Greater than 20% vegetation cover, mainly grassy but with 5-20% tree cover.	Tropical savanna or montane; Tropical Savanna and Woodland
9	Broadleaved temperate evergreen forest	Mainly broadleaved and mainly evergreen trees, closed canopy (>60% crown cover). Without drip tips or buttress roots. Frosts occasionally occur	Mostly mid-latitude broad-leaved and mixed (Woods,Temperate broad-leaved forest), Tropical/subtropical humid forest, Temperate/boreal forest;
10	Montane tropical forest	Broadleaved evergreen trees. Closed forest canopy. Shorter than lowland forests, tending not to have drip tips or buttress roots.	No Olson analogue
11	Open boreal woodlands	Open woody vegetation (less than 60% canopy cover). Highly frost tolerant trees.	Northern or Maritime Taiga, subalpine
12	Semi-arid temperate woodland or scrub	Low woody vegetation (less than 6m tall), generally open with wide gaps between the bushes/low trees, in a climate in which frosts occur	Other dry woods mosaics
13	Tundra	Greater than 2% cover by low shrubs (<1m) or grasses in a lowland climate with extremely cold winters and cool summers.	Tundra
14	Steppe-tundra	A vegetation type widespread during the Last Glacial Maximum, which combined plants of tundra and steppe environments. Probably around 50% ground cover by plants; bare ground abundant but patchy.	No Olson analogue
15	Polar and alpine desert	Less than 2% ground cover by any species of vascular plant. Cold climate virtually year-round.	Polar or Rock Desert
16	Temperate desert	Less than 2% ground cover in climate in which frost occurs.	Cool desert and semi desert types
17	Temperate semi-desert	2-20% vegetation cover in a climate in which frosts occur.	Cool desert and semi desert
18	Forest steppe	5-20% overall tree cover, often as patches of trees, in a mainly grassy landscape. In lowlands.	Wooded tundra
19	Montane Mosaic	Complex topographic mosaics of forest, tundra, grassland and montane desert.	No Olson analogue
20	Alpine tundra	Greater than 2% cover by low shrubs (<1m) or grasses in a mountain climate with cold winters and cool summers.	No Olson analogue
21	Subalpine parkland	5-20% overall tree cover, often as patches of trees, in a mainly grassy landscape.	Cool grassland/scrub. Subalpine.
22	Dry steppe	Greater than 20% vegetation cover, mainly grasses. Relatively short <75cm) grasses, drier climate.	Cool grassland/scrub.
23	Temperate steppe grassland	Greater than 20% vegetation cover, mainly grasses. Relatively tall grasses and other plants (>75cm), moister climate.	Main Grassland or shrubland; Cool grassland/scrub
24	Main Taiga	Conifer forest with a fairly open canopy	Mostly taiga and other conifer; Main Taiga
25	Lakes and open water	Year-round open water, possibly freezing in winter.	Water bodies
26	Ice sheet and other permanent ice	Year-round ice or snow on surface.	Ice

Vegetation categories and their description. The corresponding vegetation type(s) from Olson et al. (1983) are also indicated.