Maintained ground cover

Impact

Ground cover describes the material that covers the surface of the soil.  It includes native vegetation, crop stubble, pasture, weeds, leaf litter, rocks and logs.  Ground cover is important for protecting the soil surface from raindrop impact, reducing runoff and soil erosion and enhancing water infiltration.  The condition of the ground cover has implications for flora and fauna habitat, ecological processes and soil condition.

Suggested indicator: Ground cover

Maintained ground cover may be associated with:

Potential associated impacts	Suggested indicators+
Changed vegetation condition and composition	Native vegetation area Vegetation density Impacts on native vegetation Ground cover Shrub cover Tree canopy cover & health Weed cover Organic litter Native plant richness  Weed species Pasture species
Increased fuel load leading to higher intensity fires	Impact of fire
Increased quality and quantity of soil organic matter	Soil life
Changed infiltration/flow that may alter watertable levels	Soil infiltration Depth to groundwater
Increased potential for gain of soil nutrients	Soil chemistry
Decreased potential for soil erosion	Hillslope erosion Gully erosion Wind erosion

⁺ Descriptions of indicators (PDF, 76K)* provides a brief description of each indicator including techniques and purpose.

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Last updated 7 September 2010

Land Manager's Monitoring Guide

• Monitoring overview
• Selecting indicators
• - Enterprise or production systems
• - Land practices
• - Management activity
• - Impact
• Indicators