Stone Creek Loop and South Gate to Gorge Trails, Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve
The two trails analyzed here are the Stone Creek Loop, represented by the pink solid rectangle in the plots below, and the South Gate to Gorge, represented by the yellow solid triangle, both at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve.
For their elevation, the percentage of native taxa is somewhat higher than the average of the other trails in my database. The Stone Creek Loop especially stands out as being high in the percentage of native taxa for its elevation.
The following figure plots the number of native taxa as a function of unique trail distance. High altitude trails, with a mean elevation above 4000 feet, now are marked with a blue cross inside their filled blue diamond. The yellow curve shows the usual power law increase of the number of species with area. (See Number Of Taxa Vs. Trail Length For Trails In Our Master Database; the curve plotted here is the same one fitted to our more complete trail guides in 2002.)
The number of native taxa is just a bit higher than that expected from my other trails.
The following figure shows the number of non-native taxa as a function of unique trail distance. The number of non-native taxa is about that expected for its length and altitude.
