Plant Communities & Habitats CLASS READINGS Key to Common Trees of Bouverie Preserve Bouverie Vegetation Map This class will be held Deciduous & Evergreen Oaks of Bouverie Preserve almost entirely on the trail so dress Sun Leaves & Shade Leaves accordingly and bring Characteristics of the Oaks of Bouverie Preserve plenty of water Chaparral & Fire (California’s Changing Landscapes, Michael Barbour et.al., 1993) Bouverie Preserve Chaparral (DeNevers) ACR Fire Ecology Program Mixed Evergreen Forest (California’s Changing Landscapes, Michael Barbour et.al., 1993) Ecological Tolerances of Riparian Plants (River Partners) Call of the Galls (Bay Nature Magazine, Ron Russo, 2009) Oak Galls of Bouverie Preserve Leaves of Three (Bay Nature Magazine, Eaton & Sullivan, 2013) Mistletoe – Magical, Mysterious, & Misunderstood (Wirka) How Old is This Twig (Wirka) CALNAT: California Naturalist Handbook Chapter 4 (98-109, 114-115) Chapter 5 (117-138) Key Concepts By the end of this class, we hope you will be able to: Use a simple key to identify trees at Bouverie Preserve, Look around you and determine whether you are in oak woodland, mixed evergreen forest, riparian woodland, or chaparral -- and get a “feel” for each, Define: Plant Community, Habitat, Ecotone; understand how to discuss/investigate each with students, Stand under a large oak and guide students in exploring/discovering the many species that live on/around it, Find a gall on an oak leaf or twig and get excited about the lifecycle of the critters who live inside, Explain how chaparral plants are fire-adapted and look for evidence of these adaptations, Locate at least one granary tree and notice acorn woodpeckers that are guarding it, List some of the animals that rely on Bouverie’s oak woodland habitat, and Make an acorn whistle & count the years a twig has been growing SEQUOIA CLUB Resources When one tugs at a In the Bouverie Library single thing in nature, he A Manual of California Vegetation, second edition, finds it attached to the John Sawyer and Todd Keeler‐ Wolf (2009). The rest of the world. classification system for California vegetation, with descriptions of vegetation types at the level of local ~ John Muir “series.” A Natural History of California, Allan A. Schoenherr (1992). A good description of the California landscape, including plant communities, geology, and natural history. Trail Tip – Acorn Whistle! Investigating the oak community: A curriculum guide for grades 4‐8, Kay Antunez de Mayolo. California Making an acorn cap whistle is a time‐honored Oak Foundation. docent skill and can provide hours of fun, literally, to you and your group. But it takes Oaks of California, Bruce Pavlik, Pamela Muick, practice! Sharon Johnson, and Marjorie Popper (1991). Here’s how: put your thumb knuckles together Plant Galls of California and other Western States, Ron Russo (2007). The most comprehensive field guide and form a “Y” shape with your thumbs. Grasp to galls in California. the acorn cap between your thumb and index finger so that a small triangle (slightly less than Secrets of the Oak Woodlands, Kate Marianchild 1/3 of the cap area) is showing (see diagram, (2014). A delightfully readable book that tells the right). Put your lips up to your thumb knuckles, stories of some of the oak woodland’s most constrict your lips and blow hard. If at first you charismatic critters. Very relevant to Bouverie don’t succeed, try varying your grip: Preserve! *Rotate your wrists forward and backward to Terrestrial Vegetation of California, third edition, change the angle of the acorn slightly. You are Michael Barbour and Jack Major (2007). The original seeking a balance between part of the air “bible” of vegetation ecology in California. stream curling around in the acorn cap while The Life of an Oak, Glenn Keator (1998). A detailed the rest of the air rushes over the top edge. and readable, classic by one of the foremost experts *Vary the size of the triangle of acorn visible between your thumbs. Online Even though it’s geared to Southern California, “Climate, fire, and habitat in Southern California” is a very informative website sponsored by U.C. Cooperative Extension: http://ucanr.edu/sites/SAFELandscapes/Fire_in_Sout hern_California_Ecosystems/ The California Native Plant Society maintains a vegetation science program and publishes the For more info: Manual of California Vegetation. The society’s http://www.sciencetoymaker.org/acorn website includes more information about growing native plants and an online version of the manual: http://www.cnps.org/ SEQUOIA CLUB Information on wild California plants for conservation, education, and appreciation. Search feature allows search by plant name, location (county, elevation, plant community), life form, native/non‐native, and rarity: http://www.calflora.org/ The California Native Grasslands Association is dedicated to preserving grassland ecosystems. Check them out at http://www.cnga.org The California Oak Foundation’s site includes many valuable resources about oaks. You can even download a free on‐line version of Acorns and eat ‘em by Suellen Ocean, a 50‐page cookbook for different kinds of acorns. http://www.californiaoaks.org/ Check out our online field guide Oaks of the Bouverie Preserve on iNaturalist.org (click on “guides” and type “Bouverie” in the search field) or go to: http://www.inaturalist.org/guides/1718 Excellent website sponsored by the U.C. Hastings Reserve. Includes pictorial keys of tree oaks, scrub oaks, and galls as well as fun information on oak flowers, acorns, oak masting, sudden oak death and more. http://hastingsreserve.org/Oakstory/oakintro.html TRAIL TIPS Third and 4th graders love to count and spell. Here are a few trail ideas that use math and language arts. When passing through an ecotone at Bouverie (the transition between two plant communities), stop and ask the students to look around and list 5 things that are different in the habitat they are leaving compared to the habitat they are entering. Say “we are in a very special place. It’s called an ECOTONE. Can anyone spell ECOTONE? “ See if they can guess what it means. Tell the students that the different plant communities are like rooms in a house--each one looks and feels different. Get them to relate to the different plant communities by asking questions about their own houses (which room is hottest, which room is coolest, where are there more places to hide?) Then relate it to the habitat—“Why might an animal like this room better than that room?” Use the “How Old Is This Twig” handout at the back of this section to show them how to count the bud scale scars on a twig. This will tell them how old a twig is as well as how fast the tree is growing. Compare the different types of trees (slow-growing oaks in stable habitats versus fast-growing riparian species like alders in habitats prone to disturbances like floods). Deciduous oaks of Bouverie Preserve Evergreen oaks of Bouverie Preserve Valley Oak Coast Live Oak Quercus agrifolia Leaves deeply lobed (7-11 Leaves small (1-2.5”), tough, lobes); no spines. Shiny convex; “like a boat.” Spiny- dark green above; softly toothed. Tufts of hairs often hairy underneath. Acorns corners of veins on underside. up to 2” (largest acorn at Acorns long and slender, Bouverie); caps very pointed at tip; caps with over- bumpy. Riparian areas, lapping scales. Oak wood- oak woodlands. lands, mixed evergreen Interior Live Black Oak Leaves small (<2”), mostly flat. Lobed or not, toothed or not. Twig galls common. Leaves deeply lobed with Acorn caps with overlap- spines at tips; variable in ping scales. Acorn tapered size but can be quite large not pointed. Dry areas; (> 6”), especially in shade. Gilman’s Knoll; knobcone Acorns fat, slightly hairy; pine forest, caps large with overlapping near waterfall. scales. Riparian areas, oak woodlands. Canyon Live Oregon Oak Leaves small, toothed or Leaves with fewer lobes not. Dark green on top; pale than Valley Oak (no more underneath with yellow than 7); sometimes toothed. fuzz. Acorn caps large, bowl Shiny dark green above; -shaped, gold-hairy inside. short-hairy underneath. Riparian areas, upper Can- Acorn caps small; bumpy. yon Trail. Hybridizes readily with Blue Oak. Oak woodlands. Shrubs: two species at Bouverie, both in chaparral and other dry areas Bouverie Preserve is part Blue Oak Scrub Oak of Audubon Canyon Ranch (ACR). This trail card was Leaves small (1-2”); bluish Leaves small (<1”), spiny- compiled by Jeanne Wirka -green. Un-lobed or shal- toothed; shiny on top, curled for ACR Education. Pho- lowly lobed. Often many like holly, not hairy. tos by J. Wirka, M. Wit- galls. Acorns caps small, kowski, and P. Schmitt. bumpy. Hybridizes readily October with Oregon Oak. Leather Oak 2012. Oak woodlands; Bouverie Leaves small, spiny-toothed; Preserve parking area. tightly convex, densely hairy. Sun Leaves and Shade Leaves The amount of light available effects the development of a leaf’s size and thickness. Under different light exposures, leaves from plants of the same species, and even those growing on the same plant, often develop distinctly different features. These differences can be seen in trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. While many plants can grow under both sunny and shady conditions (and therefore show characteristics of both sun and shade leaves), some species are genetically adapted to develop exclusively under one time of exposure. These species will only develop one type of leaf. Where at Bouverie would you expect to see sun leaves? Shade leaves? A mixture