This article is about the plant community. For the plant used medicinally, see Larrea tridentata. For other uses, see Chaparral (disambiguation).
Chaparral, Santa Ynez Mountains, near Santa Barbara, California
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. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild, wet winters and hot dry summers) and wildfire, featuring summer-drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found below the chaparral biome. Chaparral covers 5 percent of the state of California, and associated Mediterranean shrubland an additional 3.5 percent.[1] The name comes from the Spanish word for scrub oak, chaparro.
Contents [hide]
1 Introduction
2 California chaparral
2.1 California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion
2.1.1 Chaparral and woodlands biota
2.2 California cismontane and transmontane chaparral subdivisions
2.2.1 California cismontane chaparral
2.2.1.1 Cismontane chaparral plant species
2.2.1.2 Cismontane chaparral bird species
2.2.2 California transmontane (desert) chaparral
2.2.2.1 Transmontane chaparral distribution
2.2.2.2 Transmontane chaparral plants
2.2.2.3 Transmontane chaparral animals
3 Chaparral and wildfires
3.1 Wildfire debate
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Introduction[edit]
In its natural state, chaparral is characterized by infrequent fires, with intervals ranging between 10–15 years to over a hundred years. Mature chaparral (stands that have been allowed greater intervals between fires) is characterized by nearly impenetrable, dense thickets (except the more open chaparral of the desert). These plants are highly flammable. They grow as woody shrubs with hard and small leaves, are non-leaf-dropping (non-deciduous), and are drought-tolerant. After the first rains following a fire, the landscape is dominated by soft-leaved non-woody annual 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 the California Academy of Sciences, Mediterranean shrubland contains more than 20 percent of the world's plant diversity.[1] The word chaparral is a loan word from Spanish chaparro, meaning both "small" and "dwarf" evergreen oak, which itself comes from the Basque word txapar, with exactly the same meaning.
Conservation International and other conservation organizations consider the chaparral to be a biodiversity hotspot[2] - a biological community with a large number of different species - that is under threat by human activity.
California chaparral[edit]
California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion[edit]
Main article: California chaparral and woodlands
Southern coastal scrub in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
The California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, has three sub-ecoregions with ecosystem—plant community subdivisions:
California coastal sage and chaparral:
In coastal Southern California and northwestern coastal Baja California, as well as all of the Channel Islands off California and Guadalupe Island (Mexico).
California montane chaparral and woodlands:
In southern and central coast adjacent and inland California regions, including covering some of the mountains of the California Coast Ranges, the Transverse Ranges, and the western slopes of the northern Peninsular Ranges.
California interior chaparral and woodlands:
In central interior California surrounding the Central Valley, covering the foothills and lower slopes of the northeastern Transverse Ranges and the western Sierra Nevada range.
Chaparral and woodlands biota[edit]
For the numerous individual plant and animal species found within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, see the Flora of California chaparral and woodlands (index), and the Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands (index).
Some of the indicator plants of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion include:
Quercus species - Oaks — ie:
Quercus agrifolia - Coast live oak
Quercus chrysolepis - Canyon live oak
Quercus dumosa - Scrub oak
Arctostaphylos species - Manzanitas — ie:
Arctostaphylos glauca - Bigberry Manzanita
Arctostaphylos manzanita - Common manzanita
Ceanothus species - California lilacs — ie:
Ceanothus cuneatus - Buckbrush
Ceanothus megacarpus - Bigpod ceanothus
Rhus species - Sumacs — ie:
Rhus integrifolia - Lemonade berry
Eriogonum species - Buckwheats — ie:
Eriogonum fasciculatum - California buckwheat
Salvia species - Sages — ie:
Salvia clevelandii - Cleveland sage
Salvia mellifera - Black sage
California cismontane and transmontane chaparral subdivisions[edit]
Another phytogeography system uses two California chaparral and woodlands subdivisions: the cismontane chaparral and the transmontane (desert) chaparral.
California cismontane chaparral[edit]
Cismontane chaparral ("this side of the mountain") refers to the chaparral ecosystem in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome in California, growing on 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.
Cismontane chaparral plant species[edit]
For more flora species, see :Category: Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands.
In Central and Southern California chaparral forms a dominant habitat. Members of the chaparral biota native to California, all of which tend to regrow quickly after fires, include:
Adenostoma fasciculatum, Chamise
Adenostoma sparsifolium, Redshanks
Arctostaphylos spp., Manzanita
Ceanothus spp., Ceanothus
Cercocarpus spp., Mountain mahogany
Cneoridium dumosum, Bush rue
Eriogonum fasciculatum, California buckwheat
Garrya spp., Silk-tassel bush
Hesperoyucca whipplei, Yucca
Heteromeles arbutifolia, Toyon
Acmispon glaber, Deerweed
Malosma laurina, Laurel sumac
Marah macrocarpus, Wild cucumber
Mimulus aurantiacus, Bush monkeyflower
Pickeringia montana, Chaparral Pea
Prunus ilicifolia, Islay or Hollyleaf Cherry
Quercus berberidifolia, Scrub oak
Q. dumosa, Scrub oak
Q. wislizenii var. frutescens
Rhamnus californica, California Coffeeberry
Rhus integrifolia, Lemonade berry
Rhus ovata, Sugar bush
Salvia apiana, White sage
Salvia mellifera, Black sage
Xylococcus bicolor, Mission manzanita
Cismontane chaparral bird species[edit]
For more bird species, see :Category: Fauna of the California chaparral and woodlands.
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.
The species essential to the health of the ecosystem include:
California thrasher (Toxostoma redivivum)
California towhee (Pipilo crissalis)
Spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus)
Western scrub jay (Aphelocoma californica)
Very common inhabitant species include:
Anna's hummingbird (Calypte anna)
Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus)
Costa's hummingbird (Calypte costae)
Greater roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)
Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)
California transmontane (desert) chaparral[edit]
Transmontane chaparral or Desert chaparral — transmontane ("the other side of the mountain") chaparral — refers to 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.[3][4] 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 is open, with only about 50 percent of the ground covered. Individual shrubs can reach up to 10 feet (3.0 m) in height.
View from the Laguna Mountains, chaparral in the foreground
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 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.[5] 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-dropping; non-deciduous) leaves. Desert chaparral grows above California's desert cactus scrub plant community and below 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.
Transmontane chaparral distribution[edit]
Transmontane (desert) chaparral typically grows on 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 a