Vegetation

Point Blue Conservation Science has surveyed grassland vegetation across TomKat Ranch since 2011, with an updated monitoring effort in summer of 2023. We examine patterns in the current vegetation cover and diversity, changes over time, and ranch-wide vegetation trends.

Updated March 12, 2024

Achieved SMART Goals

Increase perennial grass: Average of 20% native perennial grass cover on the west side.

Maintain covered soil surface: All pastures average <5% bare ground across the ranch.

Glossary

Perennial grasses: Grasses that can survive for many years, whereas annual grasses germinate from seed, reproduce, and die each year. Perennial grasses generally turn green sooner, stay green longer, produce more biomass, and are more drought-tolerant than annual grasses. Their deep roots stabilize soil, improve water infiltration, and recycle nutrients.

Native grasses: California native grasses are perennials, which have been largely displaced by exotic annual grasses.

Forbs: Herbaceous flowering plants that are not grasses, sedges or rushes.

About this page

This interactive web page was produced in R using rmarkdown and the packages leaflet and plotly. The code used to produce this web page is available on Github.

For more information

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