Plot set up

Teams will consist of 4 people with a cell phone and university vehicle as well as ID.

Locate plot center in field with GPS according to lat/long data.

If you’re unable to access plot, report back to Diane Hope or Corinna Gries.

Use aerial photographs for locating plots in remote areas.

Get permission(s) to access property (if necessary)

Permission to access. Most sites will already have permission arranged – however in some instances site owners may not have given explicit permission. So ALWAYS check that it’s okay to carry out the survey - if people are home/in a building on the site, explain what you are doing, ask if they got the letter and make sure that they are okay with you going ahead. If there’s no one around, go ahead, provided you don’t need to access ‘sensitive’ areas e.g. back yards, behind locked gates.

At plot center, establish plot dividing ropes (dividing plot into four quadrants with ropes laid out due N,S,E,W).

Plots are square 30 m x 30 m. At plot center, establish plot dividing ropes (dividing plot into four quadrants with ropes laid out due N,S,E,W). Set up the tripod.

Set up portable weather station at plot center and run while on plot (wind speed and direction, air temp. etc)

Start filling out data sheet:

Basic plot characteristics

Date:

Crew (NOT just initials)

Plot ID

Short description of plot - 20 word limit (key words only)

Weather:

Recent rain event

Overcast / sunshine

Traffic description surrounding the plot

Freeways/Expressways

Major Roads

Collector Streets

Local Streets/ cul-de-sac

Dirt road

IF ANYTHING DOES NOT MATCH…Measure (using tape) and GPS the location of any new or changed objects; Draw on the map any alterations (make sure there are accompanying measurements i.e. if a new wall, how long it is and how far from the nearest other permanent features)

Land use (see attachment)

Percent of the plot area that is in the land use using the LTER landuse categories 1 - 6. This will mostly be 100%, but some plots will fall on a border e.g. 60% residential lot, 40% street.

IF the land use and plot features have completely changed (i.e. desert or vacant lot has been developed): i) Make a detailed sketch map of all the permanent surface features and surface cover types on the plot (including buildings, pool, shape of yard, pavement), ii) Using the tape, measure the length of features and their distance from other key objects, iii) GPS the location of all permanent surface objects.

Land cover

Map plot using combination of high resolution (1 m) air photos and GPS unit (Trimble Pro XL mapping grade unit). Basic location of land cover types, (including buildings, pool, shape of yard, pavement, major trees etc.). Each delimited area gets an ID number assigned. In the database (datasheet) these numbers will then be associated with the other information for each area:

Building (including use, materials, roof types (tar paper, shingle, red tile, etc))

roads, parking lots, sidewalks, etc.

Vegetation (general cover only, details are below)

mulch (bark chips, gravel etc.)

cement

asphalt/blacktop

wood

other impervious

soil (natural or graded - color, approx. grain size (i.e., silt, sand, gravel))

rock - (color, hand sample (from distinctly different units)) If site is on an alluvial fan, rock size/type distribution should be noted.

Water (pool, pond, canal, natural)

N.B. List to be expanded as other land cover types are encountered.

Landscape practices judged visually

turf is usually overseeded during the winter

Does the landscape have a natural or manicured appearance? Is the landscape maintained professionally? Are plants in the landscape healthy and vigorous? Are there any symptoms or signs of abiotic or biotic injury?

Watering regimes: drip or trickle, overhead spray, flood, or hand watering. Estimate cover of different irrigation types as a % of the whole plot.

Cover estimates:

Plot tree Cover (%) – the amount of tree canopy covering the plot, estimated at between 0 to 100%, to the nearest 10% (include canopy of trees overhanging into the plot, but stem outside).

Definition of a tree: Tree according to species list in database

Shrub cover (%) – the amount of shrub canopy covering the plot, estimated at between 0 to 100%, to the nearest 10%

Herbaceous/ground cover (%)– the amount of herbaceous/ground cover on the plot, estimated at between 0 to 100%, to the nearest 10%

Cactus cover (%) - estimated at between 0 to 100%, to the nearest 10%

Open ground(%) bare soil, gravel and rock

Other (%): all non pervious surfaces on the plot (e.g. asphalt, concrete, roof)

Vegetation

Trees – Each tree location is recorded with GPS, where also the ID# is assigned

ID #

DBH – diameter at breast height (4.5 ft) in cm or DGH – diameter at ground height, if tree too small or stems too numerous at breast height.

# Stems – number of stems at 4.5 ft (if multi-stemmed dbh is average of all stems or take at ground height)

Tree height, crown architecture (width, height measures)

Shape and pruned/natural

Estimates of tree sizes:

Measure largest extent in N-S and E-W direction then estimate % missing of a perfect circle or oval

For the remaining leaves estimate condition (as the dead parts in %):

Excellent less than 1%

Good 1-10%

Fair 11 - 25%

Poor 26 - 50%

Critical 51 - 75%

Dying 76 - 99%

Dead; no leaves

Classification

street tree

shade tree

accent tree

screen tree

naturalized/volunteer trees for urban sites

Cacti and Succulents

Each location is recorded with GPS, where also the ID# is assigned

ID#, Cactus height, width, stem diameter

Shrubs and perennial groundcover:

Ornamental grasses and climbers are included here

Shrubs data are recorded in two ways:

Urban plots: Each shrub location is recorded with GPS, where also the ID# is assigned

ID # , Shrub Height, width, Shrub shape and pruned/natural

In desert plots:

Five individuals of each species (chosen at random, at least one in each quadrant where possible) are recorded according to the protocol for urban plots (GPS location of each, height, width, stem diameter, shape)

In addition individuals for each species are counted for each quadrant of the plot (that is, four numbers of individuals for each species for each plot are recorded)

Ornamental, non-native species are measured as well.

(NB On initial survey in 2000, some field crews did not treat Sphaeralcea (Globe mallow) as a perennial shrub – we recommend it always be included as such on future surveys.

SOILS FIELD PROTOCOLS

Collect samples in following order:

Prokaryote sample

Take photograph of soil surface to be sampled before sample taken, camera on 50mm lens, include North arrow scale bar.

take this sample IMMEDIATELY after set-up of plot center

scratch undisturbed (i.e. UNTRAMPLED) surface soil

from approx. 12” x 12” surface area

1 m North of plot center (or nearest location of open bare soil surface)

DO NOT SAMPLE UNDER A BUSH/TREE

Put soil in Whirlpack bag, seal and label

Pollen sample

collect small (1”cube) surface soil from 10m N, E and W of plot center

using the prokaryote scoop

place all into ONE small Whirlpak bag

Bulk density 2” soil core

- carefully take an intact core to a DEPTH OF 10 CM ONLY – note this is NOT the whole depth of the corer – if it goes all the way in, REMOVE THE SOIL AND RE-TAKE THE SAMPLE.

1 m North of plot center IF no danger of hitting irrigation/power lines

OR nearest location to plot center with similar/suitable ground cover

DO NOT push/compact the sample in any way when removing from corer

RED cap on TOP; BLUE cap on BOTTOM

1” soil cores for chemical analysis

collect x 4 samples, 10m North, South, East and West of plot center

OR nearest similar/suitable locations to those points*

DO NOT sample where there may be irrigation/power lines*

place BLUE cap on BOTTOM; RED cap on TOP

* IF cannot use soil corer, take sample with hand trowel from a 4” x 4 “ surface area, to a depth of 3” – 4 “

label each core, write on tape stuck to plastic liner

keep bottom (BLUE CAP) down for carrying

Analyses:

pH

Organic carbon

Total carbon

Total nitrogen

Electrical conductivity

Texture

Soil collected at field condition is sieved, and the top soil (1-10 cm) be extracted with 1 M KCl and also do soil lab incubation to get the labile organic N data. Soil left can be air dried and do the above analyses later.

Mycorrhizal soil sample

- collect x 5 soil samples using a hand trowel

for each sample dig to depth of 5 – 6 inches from a 4 x 4 inch square area

collect samples under 5 separate well-established shrubs and/or trees (adjacent to 9.5 m North, East and West of plot center if there is a lot of vegetation on the plot) or just under what is available if veg. is sparse (NB if no shrubs/trees present on plot, take outside up to distance of 50m from plot center)

choose representative species of shrub/tree if there is a variety of species

on plots with no veg. sample at 9.5 m North, East and West of plot center

after each sample, clean the trowel with 70% ethanol to disinfect (use plastic spray bottle, wipe with paper first to remove soil)

put sample in QUART-SIZE FREEZER-TYPE Zip-Loc bag (should be around ½ full)

- label bag WITH THE NAME OF THE SHRUB/TREE SPECIES FROM WHICH THE SAMPLE WAS COLLECTED UNDER (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT)

LOG LOCATION OF EVERY SAMPLE with the GPS

Litter bag/wood burial (2000 only)

The protocol calls for 20 x 20 cm litter bags using 100% nylon cloth on the bottom and 1 mm mesh cloth on the top (LIDET 1995). The different mesh sizes allow access by invertebrate decomposers through the larger mesh on top without losing sample from the bottom. Ten grams of air-dried litter (brittle bush leaves, 10g air dry weight = 9.91g oven dry weight = 1.78 ash weight) need be added to each bag and the resulting weight recorded. The bags are to be sealed with stainless steel staples and labeled with permanently numbered aluminum or stainless steel tags using plastic cable ties. Wooden dowels, approximately 1 cm in diameter, need to be inserted 25 cm deep into the soil. Again, the dowels need to be tagged with numbered aluminum tags.

The Litter bags (3 need to be on the soil surface and attached to the soil with 2 -16 penny nails at opposite corners. Ideally one bag is collected after three, six and 12 month intervals. The wood dowells also need to be pulled after one year.

Arthropods Sweep net sample

1) Take 3 sweep net samples. Identify plant to species where possible.

2) At each site, select plant species on which to conduct sweeps by: (a) including the dominant plant species in at least one of the sweep sets, and (b) selecting additional species so as to facilitate comparisons of communities on the same plant in different habitat types. This can be accomplished by preferentially sweeping on the following species where they occur, and particularly in the following landscape types:

Bougainvillea spp. (in mesic and xeric residential neighborhoods)

Citrus spp. (in mesic yards and in orchards, i.e. agriculture)

Encelia farinosa (in desert sites and xeric yards)

Larrea tridentata (in desert sites and xeric yards).

Nerium oleander (commercial sites, mesic yards, xeric yards)

Cupressus (commercial sites, mesic yards)

Olea (commercial sites, mesic yards)

Prosopis spp. (agriculture, desert, mesic, xeric)

3) The following items should ALWAYS be specifically noted:

a) When a single plant species was used more than once at a site

b) If less than three sweep sets were conducted

c) If no arthropods were collected

d) if 3b) or 3c) apply, provide a comment re: why

4) The following items should be kept in mind for data entry (to talk to Corinna about, but not critical for the field workers):

(a) In cases where same plant species was used more than 1 time, we need to be able to differentiate the sweep sets in the archival computer files

(b) If no arthropods were collected at a site, we need a way to have zeroes entered into the database. This time I had to notice the absence of any listed zeroes, and hunt them down via the paper records.

(c) Any notes from 3) above should be entered electronically.

Photos

Ground photos

SLR camera (Minolta) mounted on tripod take pictures into 4 cardinal directions with 50mm lens at about 1.5 m above ground level, plus one ‘synoptic’ view (with 28mm lens) of plot from outside plot boundary, plus one vertical view of ground (with 50mm lens) from appr. 1 m height at plot center (for Rainey). RECORD roll number and picture number for each one ON THE FIELD SHEET.

Plant Photos

take a digital camera photograph of every cacti that could not be collected. Use a SCALE BAR, label with site and date in EVERY shot.

Equipment

Cell phone

Trimble ‘Pro XRS’ GPS unit

Compass ($10)

Clipboard and data sheets and drafting paper (grid)

Clinometer ($90)

50 m tape measure ($25)

GPS unit

Calculator ($10)

GIS map of plot with coordinates

Portable mini-met sensors for recording temp, humidity, windspeed

Minolta SLR Camera and tripod

Digital Camera

Vegetation sampling:

Diameter tape ($15)

Soil sampling:

Soil recovery probe 2 inch diameter ($145.00)

Liners ($1.65 ea.)

Caps ($7.00 per 100)

Slide hammer ($130.00)

Shovel

Pick

Small garden trowel

Tools for the soil corer (crescent wrenches, WD 40, etc)

Insect sampling:

1 insect net (sweep net, available from BioQuip), 15" diameter opening

3 glass jars with lid, filled about 1/3 with 70% EtOH

label on outside of each jar

waterproof permanent ink pen for labeling jars

Plant Genera List

Trees

Acacia (acacia)

Brachychiton (bottle tree)

Cercidium (palo verde)

Citrus (citrus)

Dalbergia (Indian rosewood)

Eucalyptus (eucalyptus)

Ficus (fig)

Fraxinus (ash)

Gleditsia (honey locust)

Lysiloma (fern of the desert)

Jacaranda (jacaranda)

Morus (mulberry)

Olea (olive)

Olneya (ironwood)

Parkinsonia (Mexican palo verde)

Phoenix (date palm)

Pinus (pine)

Pistacia (pistache)

Pithecellobium (Texas ebony)

Platanus (sycamore)

Populus (cottonwood)

Prunus (flowering plum)

Pyrus (flowering pear)

Prosopis (mesquite)

Quercus (oak)

Rhus (sumac)

Schinus (pepper tree)

Syagrus (queen palm)

Ulmus (elm)

Washingtonia (fan palm)

Cactus and succulent:

Agave (agave)

Aloe (aloe)

Carnegiea (saguaro)

Ferrocactus

Opuntia (cactus)

Shrubs:

Asparagus (asparagus fern)

Baccharis (Desert Broom)

Bougainvillea (bougainvillea)

Caesalpinia (bird-of-paradise)

Calliandra (fairy duster)

Carissa (natal plum)

Cassia (cassia)

Cynodon (bermuda grass)

Dalea (indigo bush)

Dasylirion (sotol, Desert Spoon)

Encelia (brittlebush)

Fouquieria (ocotillo)

Gazania (gazania)

Hibiscus (hibiscus)

Hesperaloe (red yucca)

Juniperus (juniper)

Lantana (lantana)

Myoporum (myoporum)

Leucophyllum (Texas sage)

Ligustrum (privet)

Myrtus (myrtle)

Nandina (heavenly bamboo)

Nerium (oleander)

Pittosporum (mockorange)

Plumbago (plumbago)

Pyracantha (pyracantha)

Rosmarinus (rosemary)

Ruellia (ruellia)

Thevetia (yellow oleander)

Xylosma (shiny xylosma)

Yucca (yucca)