Shrubland vegetation topographic facets of Southern California

To approximate the distribution of shrubland species based on their postfire reproductive strategy (resprouter, seeder, and facultative seeder) across Southern California, we created a raster layer subdividing the landscape into a number of different facet classes. This raster dataset is at 30 meters pixel resolution and contains 12 different landscape facet classes based on vegetation and physiography. Specifically, the facets included several different vegetation types based on the California Wildlife Habitat Relations (WHR) classification (three shrubland categories, annual grasslands, valley-foothill riparian woodland, and ‘other’ vegetation types) which were intersected with aspect (two classes: north or south facing) and topography (summit, ridges, slopes, valleys, flats, and depressions). The combination of factors is intended to capture warmer, more exposed vegetation types dominated by seeder species (occurring on south-facing slopes, summits and ridges) versus cooler, less exposed vegetation types associated with resprouter species (occurring on north-facing slopes, valleys, depressions, and flats). The dataset is a key input into a tool developed for resource managers to aid in the prioritization of restoration activities in shrublands postfire. The tool is available at https://github.com/adhollander/postfire and described in the following technical guide: Underwood, Emma C., and Allan D. Hollander. 2019. “Post-Fire Restoration Prioritization for Chaparral Shrublands Technical Guide.” https://github.com/adhollander/postfire/blob/master/Postfire_Restoration_Priorization_Tool_Technical_Guide.pdf