Landscape practices:

Some of these can either be questions to the owner or if that is not possible can be 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 rockW

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.

Herbaceous

list of species