California chaparral and woodlands
Encyclopedia
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
.
The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion is subdivided into three smaller ecoregions.
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
The ecoregion includes a great variety of plant communities, including grassland
s, Oak savanna
s and woodland
s, 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:
s 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.
, 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). Americans have also forced animals out of their homes by destroying the habitat, a habitat once protected and revered by the native Californian Indians. This also caused some species to go extinct.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
(United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) and northwestern Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
(Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
), located on the west coast of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It is an ecoregion of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, defined by the World Wildlife Fund, characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near some seas, as near San Francisco, which have a sea of cool waters...
Biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
, and part of the Nearctic
Nearctic
The Nearctic is one of the eight terrestrial ecozones dividing the Earth's land surface.The Nearctic ecozone covers most of North America, including Greenland and the highlands of Mexico...
ecozone
Ecozone
An ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.Ecozones delineate large areas of the Earth's surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated from...
.
Three sub-ecoregions
- California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregionCalifornia coastal sage and chaparral ecoregionThe California coastal sage and chaparral, a sub-ecoregion of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, is found in southwestern California and northwestern Baja California in Mexico.-Location:...
: In southern coastal CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and northwestern coastal Baja CaliforniaBaja CaliforniaBaja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, as well as all the Channel Islands of CaliforniaChannel Islands of CaliforniaThe Channel Islands of California are a chain of eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel in the United States of America...
and Guadalupe IslandGuadalupe IslandGuadalupe Island, or Isla Guadalupe is a volcanic island located 241 kilometers off the west coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula and some 400 kilometers southwest of the city of Ensenada in Baja California state, in the Pacific Ocean...
.
- California montane chaparral and woodlandsCalifornia montane chaparral and woodlandsThe California montane chaparral and woodlands ecoregion covers , including the mountains of the Transverse, Peninsular, and Santa Lucia Ranges of California. It is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers...
: In southern and central coast adjacent and inland California, covering some of the mountains of: the Coast Ranges; the Transverse RangesTransverse RangesThe Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region that runs along the Pacific coast from Alaska to Mexico in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie between...
; and the western slopes of the northern Peninsular RangesPeninsular RangesThe Peninsular Ranges are a group of mountain ranges, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, which stretch from southern California in the United States to the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges that run along the Pacific coast from Alaska...
.
- California interior chaparral and woodlandsCalifornia interior chaparral and woodlandsThe California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion covers in an elliptical ring around the California Central Valley. It occurs on hills and mountains ranging from to . It is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers...
In central interior California surrounding the California Central ValleyCalifornia Central ValleyCalifornia's Central Valley is a large, flat valley that dominates the central portion of California. It is home to California's most productive agricultural efforts. The valley stretches approximately from northwest to southeast inland and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. Its northern half is...
cover the foothills and the Transverse Ranges and Sierra Nevada Mountains .
Locations
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, Ventura County
Ventura County, California
Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. It is located on California's Pacific coast. It is often referred to as the Gold Coast, and has a reputation of being one of the safest populated places and one of the most affluent places in the country...
, the Greater Los Angeles Area
Greater Los Angeles Area
The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is a term used for the Combined Statistical Area sprawled over five counties in the southern part of California, namely Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Ventura County...
, San Diego County
San Diego County, California
San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...
, and Tijuana
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...
.
The California Central Valley grasslands ecoregion, as well as the coniferous Sierra Nevada forests, Northern California coastal forests
Northern California coastal forests
The Northern California coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of coastal Northern California, USA.-Setting:The ecoregion lies close to the Pacific Ocean, and is kept moist by Pacific Ocean storms during the winter months, and by coastal fogs in the summer months...
, and Klamath-Siskiyou forests of northern California and southwestern Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, 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
California Floristic Province
The California Floristic Province is a floristic province with a Mediterranean climate located on the Pacific Coast of North America with a distinctive flora that bears similarities to floras found in other regions experiencing a winter rainfall, summer drought climate like the Mediterranean...
, excluding the deserts of eastern California
Eastern California
Eastern California is a term that refers to the eastern region of California, United States. It can refer to either the strip to the east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada, or to the easternmost counties of California.-Culture and history:...
, which belong to other floristic provinces. Many Bioregionalists
Bioregionalism
Bioregionalism is a political, cultural, and environmental system or set of views based on naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics...
, including poet Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder is an American poet , as well as an essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist . Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry...
, identify the central and northern Coast Ranges, Klamath-Siskiyou, the Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada as the Shasta Bioregion or the Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...
Bioregion
Plant communities
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
s, Oak savanna
Oak savanna
An oak savanna is a type of savanna, or lightly forested grassland, where oaks are the dominant tree species. These savannas were maintained historically through wildfires set by lightning, grazing, low precipitation, poor soil, and/or fires set by Native Americans...
s and woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s, chaparral
Chaparral
Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
, 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:
- California coastal prairieCalifornia coastal prairieCalifornia coastal prairie, also known as northern coastal grassland, is a grassland plant community of California and Oregon in the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Biome...
- California montane chaparral
- Coastal sage scrubCoastal sage scrubCoastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...
- Northern coastal scrubNorthern coastal scrubNorthern coastal scrub is a scrubland plant community of California and Oregon. It occurs along the Pacific Coast from Point Sur on the Central California coast in Monterey County, California, to southern Oregon...
- ChaparralChaparralChaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...
- Oak woodlandCalifornia oak woodlandCalifornia oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico...
- Mixed evergreen forestCalifornia mixed evergreen forestCalifornia mixed evergreen forest is an ecoregion, of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, that occurs in the Pacific Coast Ranges of southwestern Oregon and California, and in the Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges in California...
- Coast Redwood forest
- Closed-cone pine forestClosed-cone pine forestClosed-cone pine forest is a plant community of coastal California and several offshore islands. It consists of stands of Bishop Pines, Monterey Pines, and others which rely on fire or strong heat to open their cones and release the seeds.-Closed-cone Pines:...
- Sierra Nevada lower montane forest
Fauna
The rain beetleRain beetle
The rain beetles are a group of beetles found in the far west of North America. They spend most of their lives underground, emerging in response to rain or snow, thus the common name. Formerly classified in the Geotrupidae, they are currently assigned to their own family Pleocomidae, considered the...
s 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 ScrubCoastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...
, have been nearly eradicated by agriculture and urbanization. As a result, the region now has many rare and endangered species, including the California condor
California Condor
The California Condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and coastal mountains of central and southern California and northern Baja California...
(Gymnogyps californianus). Americans have also forced animals out of their homes by destroying the habitat, a habitat once protected and revered by the native Californian Indians. This also caused some species to go extinct.
See also
- Index: Flora of California chaparral and woodlands
- Index: Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
External links
- California Chaparral and Woodlands (121) from the World Wildlife Fund
- California Coastal Sage and Chaparral images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (slow modem version)
- California Interior Chaparral and Woodlands images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (slow modem version)
- California Montane Chaparral and Woodlands images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu (slow modem version)
- California Chaparral Institute: website