Soils and vegetation of Santa Barbara Island, Channel Islands National Park, CA

W. L. Halvorson; D.B. Fenn; W.R. Allardice

doi:10.1007/bf01867382

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Soils and vegetation of Santa Barbara Island, Channel Islands National Park, CA

W. L. Halvorson·D.B. Fenn·W.R. Allardice

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Abstract

The multifaceted development of an erosion surface on Santa Barbara Island, Channel Islands National Park, California, has led to this study of the relationship between soils and vegetation. A dry Mediterranean climate and past attempts at farming and introductions of alien species have led to vegetative degradation accompanied by both gully and surface erosion. Soil and vegetation analyses show this erosion to be in a location of transition. The soils are Typic Chromoxererts (Vertisol Order) with high clay, salinity, and sodium contents. The vegetation is ecotonal in nature, grading from a principally alien annual grassland with Avena fatua and Atriplex semibaccata to a shrub community dominated by the native Suaeda californica . Management toward revegetation and stabilization of this island ecosystem will be difficult with high clay, saline-sodic soils and disturbed vegetation.

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Environmental Management Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 33.860453564932854° to 34.18227041983991° latitude; -120.54213861033384° to -119.469594913035° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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W. L. Halvorson, D.B. Fenn, W.R. Allardice. 1988. Soils and vegetation of Santa Barbara Island, Channel Islands National Park, CA. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01867382

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