California chaparral and woodlands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2012)

Further information: Chaparral

California chaparral and woodlands

Ecology
Biome Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Geography
States California and Baja California

The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of lower northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is an ecoregion of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub Biome, and part of the Nearctic ecozone.

Setting

Three sub-ecoregions

California oak woodlands, in Gaviota State Park, near Santa Barbara, California

The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion is subdivided into three smaller ecoregions.

California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion: In southern coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California, as well as all the Channel Islands of California and Guadalupe Island.

California montane chaparral and woodlands: In southern and central coast adjacent and inland California, covering some of the mountains of: the Coast Ranges; the Transverse Ranges; and the western slopes of the northern Peninsular Ranges.

California interior chaparral and woodlands In central interior California surrounding the California Central Valley cover the foothills and the Transverse Ranges and Sierra Nevada Mountains .

Locations

Montane chaparral and woodlands in the Santa Ynez Mountains, near Santa Barbara, California

Most of the population of California and Baja California lives in these ecoregions, which includes the San Francisco Bay Area, Ventura County, the Greater Los Angeles Area, San Diego County, and Tijuana.

The California Central Valley grasslands ecoregion, as well as the coniferous Sierra Nevada forests, Northern California coastal forests, and Klamath-Siskiyou forests of northern California and southwestern Oregon, share many plant and animal affinities with the California chaparral and woodlands. Many botanists consider the California chaparral and woodlands, Sierra Nevada forests, Klamath-Siskiyou forests, and Northern California coastal forests as a single California Floristic Province, excluding the deserts of eastern California, which belong to other floristic provinces. Many Bioregionalists, including poet Gary Snyder, identify the central and northern Coast Ranges, Klamath-Siskiyou, the Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada as the Shasta Bioregion or the Alta California Bioregion

Plant communities

Southern coastal sage and chaparral in the Santa Monica Mountains, near Malibu.

The ecoregion includes a great variety of plant communities, including grasslands, Oak savannas and woodlands, chaparral, and coniferous forests, including southern stands of the tall Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). It is home to a great many endemic species. Some plant communities include:

Fauna

The rain beetles are notable insect residents of this ecoregion. They spend up to several years living underground in a larval stage and emerge only during wet-season rains to mate.

Human influence

The region has been heavily affected by grazing, logging, dams and water diversions, and intensive agriculture and urbanization, as well as competition by numerous introduced or exotic plant and animal species. Some unique plant communities, like southern California's Coastal Sage Scrub, have been nearly eradicated by agriculture and urbanization. As a result, the region now has many rare and endangered species, including the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus).

References

Bakker, Elna (1971) An Island Called California. University of California Press; Berkeley.
Dallman, Peter R. (1998). Plant Life in the World's Mediterranean Climates. California Native Plant Society–University of California Press; Berkeley.
Ricketts, Taylor H; Eric Dinerstein; David M. Olson; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (1999). Terrestrial Ecoregions of North America: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press; Washington, DC.
Schoenherr, Allan A. (1992). A Natural History of California. University of California Press; Berkeley.