Mapping Plant Health in Southern California Alluvial Fan Sage Scrub Plant Communities

Abstract

Southern California has undergone drastic development and urban sprawl in the past century and the widespread loss of natural ecosystems has impacts that extend to climate change, community health, animal habitats, and water consumption. Native plants, which are culturally, medicinally, and biologically important, are under extreme pressures. This project focuses on mapping plant health and seed collection at the Outback, a 2.5 acre nature preserve at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, in order to inform maintenance decisions about conservation of the Outback’s alluvial sage scrub plant community native to the Southern California bioregion of Claremont. It explores group efforts for field-collecting data and the accuracy of matching up data with images. With the use of spatial analysis technology and high-resolution aerial imagery, this project visualizes the first set of collected data towards a floristic inventory of the diverse plant species present in the Outback, showcasing the health of plants and viability of seeds. It connects qualitative data, images, and information, on plants in the Outback to their spatial locations of where they are present, and their abundance. Overall, this project is a key part of the Pitzer College Outback restoration plan, as it accompanies a current seed banking effort to preserve the genetically adapted germplasm of these native species long term and offers insight into necessary maintenance plans and solutions.