Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The County of San Diego has both "Coastal Sage Scrub" and "Chaparral" in abundance. In fact, these two ecosystems cover most of the ground in the county, albeit with many different types. Many of the plants involved in the two systems are deceptively similar, although they quite commonly belong to different species. Naturally, one would like to know how to keep the two communities apart. The criteria, evidently, are plant species distributions. These have been and are being mapped by various methods, including field work by expert observers, collections of specimens in museum repositories, and the study of air photos and satellite images.