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39-430: Many chaparral shrubs have hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous , scrub community of coastal sage scrub , found often on drier, southern facing slopes. Three other closely related chaparral shrubland systems occur in southern Arizona , western Texas , and along the eastern side of central Mexico's mountain chains, all having summer rains in contrast to

78-553: A biological community with a large number of different species – that is under threat by human activity. The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion , of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome , has three sub-ecoregions with ecosystem – plant community subdivisions: For the numerous individual plant and animal species found within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, see: Some of

117-512: A chaparral fire becomes. Sclerophyllous Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 926780800 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:00:28 GMT California chaparral and woodlands The California chaparral and woodlands

156-433: A fire. Plants that are long-lived in the seed bank or serotinous with induced germination after fire include chamise , Ceanothus, and fiddleneck . Some chaparral plant communities may grow so dense and tall that it becomes difficult for large animals and humans to penetrate, but may be teeming with smaller fauna in the understory. The seeds of many chaparral plant species are stimulated to germinate by some fire cue (heat or

195-467: A high ratio of magnesium and iron to calcium and potassium, that are also generally low in essential nutrients such as nitrogen. Another phytogeography system uses two California chaparral and woodlands subdivisions: the cismontane chaparral and the transmontane (desert) chaparral. Cismontane chaparral ("this side of the mountain") refers to the chaparral ecosystem in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome in California, growing on

234-403: A high-intensity crown-fire regime, meaning that fires consume nearly all the above ground growth whenever they burn, with a historical frequency of 30 to 150 years or more. A detailed analysis of historical fire data concluded that fire suppression activities have been ineffective at excluding fire from southern California chaparral, unlike in ponderosa pine forests. In addition, the number of fires

273-437: A native shrubland to non-native annual grassland and drastically reduce species diversity, especially under drought brought about by climate change. There are two older hypotheses relating to California chaparral fire regimes that caused considerable debate in the past within the fields of wildfire ecology and land management. Research over the past two decades have rejected these hypotheses: The perspective that older chaparral

312-645: A native shrubland to nonnative annual grassland and drastically reduce species diversity, especially under global-change-type drought. The historical fire return interval for chaparral communities used to be 30–50 years, but has now decreased to 5–10 years due to human interference. The region has been heavily affected by grazing, logging, dams, and water diversions, 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

351-520: A year. This makes the chaparral most vulnerable to fire in the late summer and fall. The chaparral ecosystem as a whole is adapted to be able to recover from naturally infrequent, high-intensity fire (fires occurring between 30 and 150 years or more apart); indeed, chaparral regions are known culturally and historically for their impressive fires. (This does create a conflict with human development adjacent to and expanding into chaparral systems.) Additionally, Native Americans burned chaparral near villages on

390-485: Is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, 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 realm . The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion is subdivided into three smaller ecoregions. Most of

429-406: Is characterized by nearly impenetrable, dense thickets (except the more open desert chaparral). These plants are flammable during the late summer and autumn months when conditions are characteristically hot and dry. They grow as woody shrubs with thick, leathery, and often small leaves, contain green leaves all year (are evergreen ), and are typically drought resistant (with some exceptions). After

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468-635: Is commonplace throughout the lower elevations of the climate zone. There are two types of chaparral: soft and hard chaparral. Hard chaparral is usually evergreen , located at higher elevation and is harder to walk through. Soft chaparral tends to be drought deciduous , live at lower elevations and tends to be easier to walk through. Species include the California gnatcatcher ( Polioptila californica ), Costa's hummingbird ( Calypte costae ), coast horned lizard ( Phrynosoma coronatum ), and rosy boa ( Lichanura trivirgata ). Other animals found here are

507-427: Is highly fire resilient and historically burned with high-severity, stand replacing events every 30 to 100 years. Historically, Native Americans burned chaparral to promote grasslands for textiles and food. Though adapted to infrequent fires, chaparral plant communities can be exterminated by frequent fires especially with climate change induced drought. Today, frequent accidental ignitions can convert chaparral from

546-425: Is increasing in step with population growth and exacerbated by climate change. Chaparral stand age does not have a significant correlation to its tendency to burn. Large, infrequent, high-intensity wildfires are part of the natural fire regime for California chaparral. Extreme weather conditions (low humidity, high temperature, high winds), drought, and low fuel moisture are the primary factors in determining how large

585-477: Is often open, with only about 50 percent of the ground covered. Individual shrubs can reach up to 10 feet (3.0 m) in height. Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral is found on the eastern slopes of major mountain range systems on the western sides of the deserts of California . The mountain systems include the southeastern Transverse Ranges (the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains ) in

624-742: Is unhealthy or unproductive may have originated during the 1940s when studies were conducted measuring the amount of forage available to deer populations in chaparral stands. However, according to recent studies, California chaparral is extraordinarily resilient to very long periods without fire and continues to maintain productive growth throughout pre-fire conditions. Seeds of many chaparral plants actually require 30 years or more worth of accumulated leaf litter before they will successfully germinate (e.g., scrub oak, Quercus berberidifolia ; toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia ; and holly-leafed cherry, Prunus ilicifolia ). When intervals between fires drop below 10 to 15 years, many chaparral species are eliminated and

663-487: The Heermann kangaroo rat ( Dipodomys heermanni ), Santa Cruz kangaroo rat ( Dipodomys venustus ), and the endangered white-eared pocket mouse ( Perognathus alticolus ). Another notable insect resident of this ecoregion is the rain beetle ( Pleocoma sp.) It spends up to several years living underground in a larval stage and emerges only during wet-season rains to mate. Chaparral, like most Mediterranean shrublands,

702-891: The Mojave Desert north and northeast of the Los Angeles basin and Inland Empire; and the northern Peninsular Ranges (San Jacinto, Santa Rosa , and Laguna Mountains ), which separate the Colorado Desert (western Sonoran Desert ) from lower coastal Southern California . It is distinguished from the cismontane chaparral found on the coastal side of the mountains, which experiences higher winter rainfall. Naturally, desert chaparral experiences less winter rainfall than cismontane chaparral. Plants in this community are characterized by small, hard ( sclerophyllic ) evergreen (non- deciduous ) leaves. Desert chaparral grows above California's desert cactus scrub plant community and below

741-528: The desert shrubland habitat and chaparral plant community growing in the rainshadow of these ranges. Transmontane chaparral features xeric desert climate, not Mediterranean climate habitats, and is also referred to as desert chaparral . Desert chaparral is a regional ecosystem subset of the deserts and xeric shrublands biome , with some plant species from the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion . Unlike cismontane chaparral, which forms dense, impenetrable stands of plants, desert chaparral

780-557: The pinyon-juniper woodland . It is further distinguished from the deciduous sub-alpine scrub above the pinyon-juniper woodlands on the same side of the Peninsular ranges. Due to the lower annual rainfall (resulting in slower plant growth rates) when compared to cismontane chaparral, desert chaparral is more vulnerable to biodiversity loss and the invasion of non-native weeds and grasses if disturbed by human activity and frequent fire. Transmontane (desert) chaparral typically grows on

819-494: The California Academy of Sciences, Mediterranean shrubland contains more than 20 percent of the world's plant diversity. The word chaparral is a loanword from Spanish chaparro , meaning place of the scrub oak , which itself comes from a Basque word, txapar , that has the same meaning. Conservation International and other conservation organizations consider chaparral to be a biodiversity hotspot –

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858-448: 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,

897-733: 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 grasslands , oak savannas and woodlands , chaparral , and coniferous forests , including southern stands of the tall coast redwood ( Sequoia sempervirens ). The flora of this ecoregion also includes tree species such as gray or foothill pine ( Pinus sabiniana ), scrub oak ( Quercus dumosa ), California buckeye ( Aesculus californica ),

936-663: The Mediterranean climate of other chaparral formations. Chaparral comprises 9% of California's wildland vegetation and contains 20% of its plant species. See US Forest Service map and details of distribution and occurrence The name comes from the Spanish word chaparro , which translates to "place of the scrub oak ". In its natural state, chaparral is characterized by infrequent fires, with natural fire return intervals ranging between 30 years and over 150 years. Mature chaparral (at least 60 years since time of last fire)

975-418: The chaparral biota native to California, all of which tend to regrow quickly after fires, include: The complex ecology of chaparral habitats supports a very large number of animal species. The following is a short list of birds which are an integral part of the cismontane chaparral ecosystems. Transmontane chaparral or desert chaparral — transmontane ("the other side of the mountain") chaparral —refers to

1014-399: The chemicals from smoke or charred wood). During the time shortly after a fire, chaparral communities may contain soft-leaved herbaceous, fire following annual wildflowers and short-lived perennials that dominate the community for the first few years – until the burl resprouts and seedlings of chaparral shrub species create a mature, dense overstory. Seeds of annuals and shrubs lie dormant until

1053-424: The coastal plain to promote plant species for textiles and food. Before a major fire, typical chaparral plant communities are dominated by manzanita , chamise Adenostoma fasciculatum and Ceanothus species, toyon (which can sometimes be interspersed with scrub oaks ), and other drought-resistant shrubs with hard ( sclerophyllous ) leaves; these plants resprout (see resprouter ) from underground burls after

1092-740: The first rains following a fire, the landscape is dominated by small flowering herbaceous plants, known as fire followers, which die back with the summer dry period. Similar plant communities are found in the four other Mediterranean climate regions around the world, including the Mediterranean Basin (where it is known as maquis ), central Chile (where it is called matorral ), the South African Cape Region (known there as fynbos ), and in Western and Southern Australia (as kwongan ). According to

1131-446: The indicator plants of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion include: Chaparral soils and nutrient composition Chaparral characteristically is found in areas with steep topography and shallow stony soils, while adjacent areas with clay soils, even where steep, tend to be colonized by annual plants and grasses. Some chaparral species are adapted to nutrient-poor soils developed over serpentine and other ultramafic rock, with

1170-628: The interior of the deserts, such as in the upper New York Mountains within the Mojave National Preserve in the Mojave Desert. The California transmontane (desert) chaparral is found in the rain shadow deserts of the following: There is overlap of animals with those of the adjacent desert and pinyon-juniper communities. Chaparral is a coastal biome with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The chaparral area receives about 38–100 cm (15–39 in) of precipitation

1209-431: The loss of obligate seeding shrub species such as Manzanita spp. This high frequency disallows seeder plants to reach their reproductive size before the next fire and the community shifts to a sprouter-dominance. If high frequency fires continue over time, obligate resprouting shrub species can also be eliminated by exhausting their energy reserves below-ground. Today, frequent accidental ignitions can convert chaparral from

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1248-585: The lower (3,500–4,500 feet (1,100–1,400 m) elevation) northern slopes of the southern Transverse Ranges (running east to west in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties) and on the lower (2,500–3,500 feet (760–1,070 m)) eastern slopes of the Peninsular Ranges (running south to north from lower Baja California to Riverside and Orange counties and the Transverse Ranges). It can also be found in higher-elevation sky islands in

1287-548: The next fire creates the conditions needed for germination. Several shrub species such as Ceanothus fix nitrogen, increasing the availability of nitrogen compounds in the soil. Because of the hot, dry conditions that exist in the California summer and fall, chaparral is one of the most fire-prone plant communities in North America. Some fires are caused by lightning, but these are usually during periods of high humidity and low winds and are easily controlled. Nearly all of

1326-532: The observation that fire suppression and other human-caused disturbances in dry, ponderosa pine forests in the Southwest of the United States has unnaturally increased forest density. Historically, mixed-severity fires likely burned through these forests every decade or so, burning understory plants, small trees, and downed logs at low-severity, and patches of trees at high-severity. However, chaparral has

1365-655: 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 , Tijuana , and Ensenada, Baja California . 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

1404-438: The rare Gowen cypress ( Cupressus goveniana) , the rare Monterey cypress ( Cupressus macrocarpa ), and a wealth of endemic plant species, including the extremely rare San Gabriel Mountain liveforever ( Dudleya densiflora ), Catalina mahogany ( Cercocarpus traskiae ), and the threatened most beautiful jewel-flower ( Streptanthus albidus ssp. Peramoenus ). Hesperoyucca whipplei , colloquially known as Chaparral Yucca,

1443-475: The system is typically replaced by non-native, invasive, weedy grassland. The idea that older chaparral is responsible for causing large fires was originally proposed in the 1980s by comparing wildfires in Baja California and southern California. It was suggested that fire suppression activities in southern California allowed more fuel to accumulate, which in turn led to larger fires. This is similar to

1482-425: The very large wildfires are caused by human activity during periods of hot, dry easterly Santa Ana winds . These human-caused fires are commonly ignited by power line failures, vehicle fires and collisions, sparks from machinery, arson, or campfires. Though adapted to infrequent fires, chaparral plant communities can be eliminated by frequent fires. A high frequency of fire (less than 10-15 years apart) will result in

1521-747: The western (and coastal) sides of large mountain range systems, such as the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in the San Joaquin Valley foothills, western slopes of the Peninsular Ranges and California Coast Ranges , and south-southwest slopes of the Transverse Ranges in the Central Coast and Southern California regions. In Central and Southern California chaparral forms a dominant habitat. Members of

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