Look for complete geospatial metadata in this layer's associated xml document available from the download link

* Metric Name: Herbaceous Cover Ratio *  

* Tier: 1  

* Data Vintage: 2021  

* Unit Of Measure: Fractional non-overlapping absolute cover; continuous variable from 0 to 1.  

* Represent element and pillar: Yes  

* Type and distribution of data: Right-skewed distribution representing proportion values. Raw data values range from 0 to 0.909.  

* Translation: Where is herbaceous cover low?  

* Translation method and outcome: Raw data values translated to range from +1 to -1 representing more favorable to less favorable conditions, respectively. **** The proposition of more favorable is based on the objective of canopy layers being lower (negative linear slope). More favorable (translated to -1) and less favorable (translated to +1) are based on climate and vegetation regions (Table 5).

Figure . Histogram and scoring criterion of herbaceous cover across the
Central Coast.

Figure . Histogram of translated herbaceous cover across the Central Coast.

Figure . Maps displaying raw metric and translated metric herbaceous cover
across the Central Coast.

  

* Metric Definition and Relevance: Total herbaceous cover as measured by the fractional non-overlapping absolute herbaceous cover, viewed vertically. Provides a first order measure of vegetation type when combined with parallel observations of tree and herbaceous cover. Data from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) are used for training, and NLCD definitions for cover (for example, the distinction between tree vs shrub) are expected to be similar in the CECS data sets.  

* Credits: CECS;