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California's Diverse Vegetation Part 1

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California's Diverse Vegetation Part 1 California’s Diverse Vegetation Part 1 GEO 351 Dr.Garver CA Flora and Fauna Diversity • Topography • Climates • Latitudinal range • Coastline • Human interaction - modified landscape in past few centuries Topography Topography & Climate Principal Biomes Principal Biomes Biome - a regional ecosystem characterized by distinct types of vegetation, animals, and microbes that have developed under specific soil and climatic conditions. Principal Biomes • Biomes - biogeographical units containing – Physical environments • climate • soils • landforms • water – 5 biomes in CA • Flora and fauna 5 Biomes • Coniferous Forests • Oak Woodlands • Grasslands & Marshlands • Desert Scrublands • Chaparral and Coastal Shrublands Floristic Provinces Floristic Provinces Floristic Provinces • geographic area with uniform composition of plant species. boundaries with adjacent provinces are soft, transitional areas where many species from both regions overlap. N. America – 13 floristic provinces – 4 in California: Californian, Vancouverian, Sonoran and Great Basin. CALIFORNIAN- Defined by its Mediterranean climate. Smallest in N. America, but greatest diversity of plants north of Mexico. Characteristic vegetation as chaparral/coastal sage scrub, oak woodland and grassland. These plants exhibit classic adaptations to California's hot dry summers and cool wet winters. VANCOUVERIAN - encompasses state's major forests and includes mixed evergreen and coniferous forests of pines and coast and sierran redwoods - transitional between Mediterranean climate vegetation and the temperate coniferous rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. SONORAN - characterized by giant cacti and desert scrubFloristic of the American Provinces Southwest continuedand Mexico. At the edge of this province, California's desert vegetation is defined by joshua tree woodland, fan palm oasis and creosote bush scrub. GREAT BASIN - dominated by sagebrush scrub vegetation - the "sagebrush ocean." The majority of this high-elevation semi-desert lies to the east of California in the rain shadow of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges. Climate & Precipitation Maps Principal Biomes Coniferous Forest • Areas nearly or completely covered with needle leaved, cone bearing trees • 1/5 of CA • Found where orographic P is heaviest • ~2,000 ft and above Coniferous Forest • West flanks of N Coast Ranges • Klamaths • Cascades • Sierras • Redwoods, firs, pines Coniferous Forest Coniferous Forest Photos Coniferous Forest Photos Coast redwoods - tallest living things - found in the fog belt of coastal California, from Big Sur to southern Oregon. Coast Redwood Coast Redwood Map Bristlecone Pine Bristlecone Pine - White Mts. East of Owens Valley. World’s longest living trees, up to 4,600 years. Douglas Fir - most heavily used for timber Douglas Fir Sequoias Giant Sequoia Alpine Lakes Hike - Sequoia Eastern Sierras Canadian Geese Snake Bear More Eastern Sierra photos More eastern Sierra photos Summer snowpack in the Sierras Flowering plants (10,000’) More flowers Summer snowpack in the Sierras Summer snowpack - Sierras Snowmelt Snowmelt into a stream Sierra Nevada • Vertical zonation: – Precipitation – Vegetation • Result of orographic precip. • Mean annual precip. increases with elevation through yellow pine and red fir belts Vertical Zonation Principal Biomes Biome & Climate Maps Oak Woodlands • Oaks and grasses most common • Also, Pines • Transistion zone between well watered forests of higher elevation and drier grasslands/shrublands of lower lying areas Oak Woodlands • Foothills of Cascades and Sierras • Stream courses of Central Valley • Central and Southern Coast Ranges • Inner coastal valleys of S. California Oak Savanna Oak Savanna Valley Oaks Canyon Live Oak Coast Live Oak Blue Oak Grasslands and Marshlands • Central Valley • Natural landscape is gone - Ranching/farming • Perennial bunchgrasses - Tree lined waterways • Marshy river deltas Photos of central valley agriculture Sac. R. Vernal pool Photos of central valley Tule Elk State Reserve Vernal Pools • Seasonally flooded depressions • Found on soils with an impermeable layer – hardpan, claypan, or volcanic basalt. • Impermeable layer allows pools to retain water longer then surrounding areas • Pools are shallow enough to dry up each season. Vernal Pools • Only plants and animals adapted to this cycle of wet/dry can survive. – Specialized plants and animals – winter rains - plants sprout underwater – special floating leaves and air-filled stems to stay afloat. • Flowering plants produce brightly-colored concentric rings of flowers Vernal pool photos Sauntering in any direction, my feet would brush about a hundred flowers with every step... as if I were wading in liquid gold. -- John Muir describing the Central Valley of California in the spring of 1868 John Muir quote .
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