Ecosystems

"One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.  Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to the laymen..."
- Aldo Leopold

California boasts an astounding amount of biodiversity across a wide variety of natural ecosystems.  Representative types of all six of the world's major biomes can be found in California: marine, freshwater, forest, grassland, desert and tundra.  The state is divided into eleven distinct geomorphic provinces and ten bioregions or ecoregions.  Upwards of one thousand distinct plant communities can be counted within these ecoregions, contributing to a brilliant tapestry of diverse ecosystems across the state.

Read more about:

On this page, you will find links to some of my most comprehensive writing, organized by ecoregion and ecosystem.

> Scroll to the bottom of the page to find links to articles about regions and ecosystems beyond California! <

Coastal Ecosystems

With roughly 840 miles of stunning coastline, California is home to a number of productive and fragile ecosystems that are intrinsically linked to the Pacific.  These include offshore ecosytems, rocky shore and intertidal ecosystems, estuaries and salt marshes, sandy beaches, coastal dunes, coastal prairie, and coastal sage scrub.  




Valley Grassland Ecosystems

Once widespread throughout the Great Central Valley, California's native grasslands, verdant flowering prairies of perennial bunchgrass and forbs, have been severely reduced to a few scattered pockets.








Wetland Ecosystems

Much of the Great Central Valley of California was once covered in seasonal wetland, fed by snowmelt from the Sierra.  In addition to freshwater marshes, California also boasts small remnants of salt marsh ecosystems, as well as a network of coastal estuaries and an extensively managed delta.

What Are Wetlands And What Do They Do? Why Are Wetlands So Important And Why Do They Need Protecting?  Find out here!






Riparian Ecosystems

A number of rivers, though considerably reduced, still wend their way across the Valley floor, charting ancient paths from the mountains to the sea as snowmelt from the Sierra finds its way to the Pacific.






The Mountains of California: 
Sierra Nevada, Klamath, Cascade and Coast Ranges

The mountains of California are rugged, beautiful and diverse landscapes, from rolling foothills to alpine peaks.  Ecosystems found here include chaparral, oak woodlands, coast redwood forests, montane forests, subalpine forests and alpine tundra, as well as freshwater lakes and streams.




Desert Ecosystems

Severely marginalized and underappreciated, California's three distinct desert ecosystems - the Mojave, Great Basin and Sonoran or Colorado deserts - support a vast array of biodiversity.  The deserts are home to a surprising variety of wildlife and put on stunning wildflower shows during the spring of rainy years!  In the out-of-the-way, seldom visited corner of northeastern California lies the Modoc Plateau, an area of volcanic lava flows, patchy forests and sagebrush scrub unlike any other part of the state, though it technically lies within the Great Basin Desert.



Beyond California

 As much as I love the nature and landscapes of California, wanderlust occasionally takes me beyond our borders into very different lands, where I am continually dazzled by our planet's wealth of natural beauty and riches.

Arizona










South Carolina















Europe












Suggested Reading

> For a brief introduction: The California Naturalist Handbook
>For a closer look: A Natural History of California (Allan A. Schoenherr)
>To plumb the depths of knowledge: Ecosystems of California (edited by Harold Mooney & Erika Zavaleta)


Comments

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like:

Birds of the Desert: Residents & Spring Migrants

Image
Nearly everyone knows the desert as a barren, desolate land of extremes: high heat, low precipitation; little available food and water; prickly, spiny, unfriendly plants growing in a sea of rocks and sand as far as the eye can see.  But for those who stop and look closer, the desert reveals itself as the beautiful, incredible, mesmerizing place it truly is, teeming with unexpected life. Juvenile male Costa's Hummingbird visiting chuparosa blooms next to our campsite in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. I particularly love the desert in the spring, when the annual wildflowers, cacti, flowering trees and shrubs are all in bloom.  (I've experienced the desert in the searing 120 degree heat of summer, and the rainy, even snowy cold of winter... and spring wins every time!)  Eric and I just returned from a week in the Colorado desert, exploring the imperiled, accidental Salton Sea (more on that coming soon), the vital wetlands of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refu
Read more

A Shorebird Primer: Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels

Image
For those of us living in the Great Central Valley, autumn is the time to head to the coast.  Of course, there is no bad time to visit California's magnificent coastline.  But as the heat and haze of summer drag on in the Valley, the sea becomes increasingly tantalizing: September and the onset of autumn bring sunny weather and an abundance of migratory seabirds and shorebirds to our coast. A new birder visiting California's Central Coast will undoubtedly be met with a splendid array of very confusing birds.  Among these are small shorebirds like  "peeps" (sandpipers), Sanderlings and various  plovers .  But the larger birds can be just as confusing, until you learn a few distinguishing features.  Four large shorebirds that are commonly seen (and commonly confused) along California's Central Coast are Godwits, Curlews, Willets and Whimbrels. Marbled Godwit (upper left), Whimbrel (upper right), Long-billed Curlew (center front) The distinguishing featu
Read more

Birding in Adverse Weather Conditions: Wind and Rain

Image
Though I often extol the virtues and merits of winter in the Central Valley , especially when it comes to birding, the whole truth is that we experience "bad" weather also, just like anywhere else.  But even when the winter weather rolls in, the birds are still out there!  And sometimes, despite our best planning efforts, a birding day happens to coincide with crummy weather.   In that case, what's a birder to do?  Usually, we go birding anyway!   Birders far more intrepid than I regularly brave the ice and snow of northern winters to see their favorite birds, so perhaps you should look to them for real tips on winter birding!  For those of us in the valleys of California, the worst weather we see - wind and rain - is really comparatively mild.  Birding on an extremely windy day! I don't know of anyone who actually likes birding in the rain.  But I would argue that birding in the wind is just as aggravating as trying to bird in the rain!   Wind can be utterly infuri
Read more

Winter Gulls: The Great I.D. Challenge

Image
Gulls are a fun challenge for birders, from beginners to experts.  A few things make gulls an interesting study: they are large and conspicuous in their open habitats, so they are easy to see, easy to put a scope on, and easy to watch and study for long periods of time.  Furthermore, gulls are almost always identifiable as gulls; none of this confusing warbler/vireo/kinglet nonsense! And yet, gulls are almost impossibly difficult!  (Though perhaps not nearly as difficult as Empidonax flycatchers!) An intimidating scene to many a birder: a mixed flock of gulls.  I see five different species of gull here. Oh, and one American Coot in the background. One of the reasons they are so complicated is most gull species take two or three years to achieve adult plumage, and go through multiple molts in a year.  So, you may be looking at three or four gulls together that look like four completely different species, when they are actually just different ages (individuals in their first, s
Read more

Joshua Tree Woodlands: A Tale of Sloths, Moths and the Trees that Need Them

Image
In 1844, early California explorer John C. Fremont gave a somewhat scathing review of Joshua trees when he wrote, "...their stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveler the most repulsive tree in the vegetable kingdom."  Rather unkind, don't you think?  But when Joshua trees were formally described by scientist William Trelease in the 1890's, he noted that Joshua Trees are "the most attractive of all the Yuccas."  I am inclined to agree with this sentiment, and must disagree most heartily with Lieutenant Fremont! I, for one, adore Joshua Trees, with their whimsical shapes and great ecological significance!  If you struggle with plant identification, the iconic Joshua tree, hallmark of the Mojave Desert, is a good place to start.  With densely spiked tufts protruding from the ends of gangly arms stretched towards the heavens, this looks like a plant straight from a Dr. Seuss book.  Native people called these trees “humwichawa,” and used thei
Read more

What's Wrong With This Tree?

Image
If you've spent any time in an oak woodland (and I sincerely hope that you have!!) you may have noticed something odd: strange growths on the branches and leaves of oak trees.  You might wonder if the trees are sick or diseased, or plagued with a dangerous pest. But not to worry; these fascinating growths are a normal part of a healthy oak community.  Spined Turban Gall on Valley Oak, with a bonus gall: the tiny orange sphere to the left of the larger gall might be a gall of the California Jumping Gall Wasp (inconclusive) These growths are in fact galls, and are caused by a variety of cynipid wasps.  Galls form when a wasp lays eggs in a plant's tissue, releasing chemicals which stimulate the plant to use its own tissue to form protective structures around the eggs.  As the insect larvae develops, it feeds on plant tissue from within its cozy gall home.  Galls form on a variety of plants, including alders, poplars, willows and even sagebrush.  But the best known and m
Read more