Can I see spatial information for species within a site?

Yes, you can see vegetation height and spatial distribution for any plot.

Vegetation height is shown for each species in the species list. Once you've selected a site, each species row has a "strata" column, as shown below. The herbaceous icon () means this species is found at the herbaceous (ground) level. The shrub icon () means this species is found at the intermediate shrub level (roughly 1.5 to 5 meters tall), and the tree icon () means that this species is found at tree height. A species with multiple icons is found growing at a variety of heights within a plot.


Next to the "strata" column on the species list, you'll see the "map" column with an empty circle for each species (see below left). Clicking on this will automatically scroll you down to where the distribution maps are shown for the species you've selected (see below right). Each plot has its own map. Areas shown in white do not contain the target species. Dark green areas are where the species was recorded from, and light green areas automatically contain this species because they contain the darker green areas (our sampling units are nested). Orange/brown is used for non-native species instead of green.


We also record cover classes for vegetation (not available for data before 2011). In order to see cover data, click on the "show cover" button directly above the distribution map, as shown below left. This will give you a color-coded cover map (below right). In the example shown, the target species has a variable but moderately dense cover throughout the first plot, and covers a smaller percentage of the second plot (the legend below the map gives percentage ranges for each category).