Invasive Plant Risk Score for Rare Plant Populations - CAL IPC [ds3181]

Average Invasive Plant Risk and Climate Change Vulnerability Scores for non-extirpated rare species occurrences within 2.5 square mile hexagons in the California Central Coast region (including Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura County, excluding the Channel Islands). Only occurrence records that were not reported as extirpated were included in the quarter quad averages. Extirpated populations were excluded from averages because data for extirpated populations cannot currently assess whether invasive plants are co-occurring or threatening the extirpated population. Along with populations reported as extirpated, we assumed that populations were extirpated if their records were larger than a 1/4 USGS quad, had uncertain location info, and were listed as "possibly extirpated.

Cal-IPC compiled data for rare species populations in the California Central Coast region (including Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties, excluding the Channel Islands). California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) spatial data for all Federally listed species were downloaded and updated through April 2023 to be used as the core of the invasive plant co-occurrence dataset (CDFW 2023). Unique occurrence records and co-occurrence information from the California Plant Rescue (CaPR) program, interviews with regional botanical experts, and unique information provided by California Botanic Garden (CBG) and SBBG collection records were added to the dataset. California Consortium of Herbaria (CCH2) records were checked against compiled data and added where they provided unique information (these only consisted of Thysanocarpus conchuliferus records missing in CNDDB).

CaPR records with biological status of cultivated or data deficient were excluded from the dataset. CaPR data entered through November 2020 were added to the CNDDB dataset by importing them into GIS as points, transforming them into polygons with buffers dependent on their error radius (when longitude or latitude coordinates were missing tenths, hundredths, or thousandths digits we used an error radius of 11,111 -meter, 1,111 -meter, or 111 -meter, respectively), and consolidating any overlapping CaPR records or records with shared EONDXs (CaPR 2021). Whenever records were consolidated, the record with more accurate location data was used, with CNDDB records serving as the base record. CCH2 data were also imported into GIS as points and then transformed into polygons with 100-meter buffers and incorporated using the same rule set. The overlapping records EONDX and ID fields are referenced in each base record. All individual CNDDB populations were scored regardless of their presence status (i.e., including records noted as extirpated, likely extirpated, or presumed extant).

California Invasive Plant Council and Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. 2023. Protecting Rare Plants from Invasive Plants: Risk Assessment and Habitat Assessment for Federally Listed Plants in the Central Coast Region of California. Cal-IPC Publication 2023-01. California Invasive Plant Council, Berkeley, CA. Available at: https://www.cal-ipc.org/resources/library/publications/protecting-rare-plants/.

Disclaimer: The State makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or adequacy of these data and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in these data. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to these data.