A case study of grassland responses to fuel reduction treatment on the mount Hamilton range of California

In many grasslands, mowing and grazing are common management methods that can decrease fuel loads and alter community composition to achieve specific targets, such as increasing diversity or reducing grass dominance. Communities may respond with changes in their taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity, species turnover, functional shifts, and individualistic species responses. We address these in a 4-yr case study of grazing and mowing in a California grassland located in the Mount Hamilton Range of Santa Clara County. We hypothesize that both grazing and mowing will reduce grass cover and residual dry matter, allowing competitive release of a more diverse range of forbs, likely increasing functional and phylogenetic diversity. On the other hand, these treatments may impose filters on the community (e.g., mowing may eliminate tall species), reducing functional diversity and shifting the community towards particular functional compositions.
In contrast to our expectations, gras..., These data are from grassland vegetation surveys at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve, in the Mount Hamilton Range of Santa Clara County, California. We surveyed seven sites in the spring of 2021-2024. Each site had 3 (or, in one case, 4) transects, with 4 1x1 m sampling plots every 10m along each transect. Within each plot, we estimated the percent cover of each vascular plant.
In addition to the resulting community matrix, we also provide a variety of plot-level summaries of the communities. These include species diversity, functional diversity, phylogenetic diversity, and functional structure.
, # Data from: A case study of grassland responses to fuel reduction treatment on the mount Hamilton range of California

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.qrfj6q5vb](10.5061/dryad.qrfj6q5vb)

## Description of the data and file structure

These are 1x1 m vegetation plots collected in May of 2021-2024 from Blue Oak Ranch Reserve (part of the University of California natural reserve system). We identified all plant species growing in each plot and estimated their percent cover.

Plots were organized along transects within sites (four plots per transect). Two of the sites were located in mowed areas, two in areas grazed by cattle and two in control areas with neither treatment. Each of these had three transects. Additionally, one site (with four transects) was treated with herbicides, grazing and mowing.

The Community matrix file contains row names specifying the sampling event (transect number, plot identifier along the transect, year of sampling), then one column for each species identified. ...,