New study models link between climate and vegetation

By Jill Calabro, AmericanHort

California’s severe drought has persisted the last five years and looks to continue for the foreseeable future, so efforts to encourage reduced water-use in the state continue as well. One such initiative promoted by Los Angeles county is “Cash for Grass,” a program incentivizing the replacement of turfgrass with a drought-tolerant landscape.
 
Plant selection is known to alter local climate conditions. Changing the landscape, even urban vegetation, changes land surface properties, especially when irrigation patterns are altered. For example, replacing traditional landscapes with drought-tolerant plant material can minimize irrigation requirements. The resulting reduction in soil moisture leads to less efficient heat transfer of the land surface and ultimately a change in air temperature.

Click here to read more.

Photo: drought-tolerant native perennial Conoclinium greggii by Shirley Fox, Rock-Oak-Deer, http://rockoakdeer.blogspot.com