What is California's ecosystem? The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions (such as the Mojave Desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert is an arid rain-shadow desert and the driest desert in North America. It is in the Southwestern United States, primarily within southeastern California and southern Nevada, and it occupies 47,877 sq mi. Very small areas also extend into Utah and Arizona. Its boundaries are …
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa and on the east by the Levant. Although the sea is sometimes consider…
Central Valley
The Central Valley is a flat valley that dominates the geographical center of the U.S. state of California. It is 40 to 60 miles wide and stretches approximately 450 miles from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. It covers approximately 18,…
What is the ecology of California?
Ecology of California. The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions (such as the Mojave Desert ),...
What are the ecoregions of California?
The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions (such as the Mojave Desert ),...
Can fish help us learn more about California’s coastal ecosystems?
Aquarium scientists are now exploring how fish, algae, and other species can help us learn more about the history of California’s coastal ecosystems. Help us reduce the sources of ocean plastic pollution and protect the ocean — not just today, but for generations to come.
What are the major landforms in California?
California has great ecological and biological diversity. The State contains offshore islands and coastal lowlands, large alluvial valleys, forested mountain ranges, deserts, and various aquatic habitats.
How many ecosystems are in California?
There are 13 level III ecoregions and 177 level IV ecoregions in California and most continue into ecologically similar parts of adjacent States of the United States or Mexico (Bryce and others, 2003; Thorson and others, 2003; Griffith and others, 2014).
What ecosystem is Southern California?
Nevertheless the Mediterranean-type ecosystem of southern California has been identified as one of the world's "hot spots" for biodiversity.
What type of ecosystem is Northern California?
Northern California coastal forestsCoast Redwood forest in Redwood National Park, California.EcologyRealmNearcticBiomeTemperate coniferous forests13 more rows
What are the ecosystems?
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or nonliving parts. Biotic factors include plants, animals, and other organisms.
Which ecosystem in California has the greatest diversity?
California's montane forests include some of the most productive and diverse temperate ecosystems in the world.
Is California a tundra?
The climate of California varies widely from hot desert to alpine tundra, depending on latitude, elevation, and proximity to the coast. California's coastal regions, the Sierra Nevada foothills, and much of the Central Valley have a Mediterranean climate, with warmer, drier weather in summer and cooler, wetter weather ...
Is California a desert biome?
California biomes The five major biomes found in the world are : desert biomes, grassland and chaparral biomes, forest biomes, mountain biomes, and aquatic biomes. The biomes in California ranges from: chaparral, temperate coniferous forests, mountains, and desert.
What ecosystem is the Bay Area?
Oak Woodlands. Savanna-like oak woodlands are among the most characteristic of Bay Area plant communities, and the only wooded areas of San Francisco prior to European settlement. Dominated by oak trees, these complex and diverse habitats harbor more wildlife than any other terrestrial plant community in the Bay Area.
Is California all desert?
There are three main deserts in California: the Mojave Desert, the Colorado Desert, and the Great Basin Desert.
What are the 4 types of ecosystems?
The four ecosystem types are classifications known as artificial, terrestrial, lentic and lotic. Ecosystems are parts of biomes, which are climatic systems of life and organisms. In the biome's ecosystems, there are living and nonliving environmental factors known as biotic and abiotic.
How many ecosystems are there?
The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, Volume 1 identifies eight major ecosystems: temperate forest, tropical rain forests, deserts, grasslands, the taiga, the tundra, the chaparral and the ocean.
What is ecosystem and habitat?
Ecosystem is defined as the interrelationships between the biotic and abiotic component of the environment. Whereas habitat is defined as the natural environment in which a particular species of plants and animals lives.
What are native animals, plants, and soil organisms?
Native animals, plants and soil organisms work to keep the system stable and moving through succession. For most plants other than winter vegetables and 'color' annuals (these plants are called ruderals,) you need to use community switches (Wilson & Agnew, Grime).
How do ecological switches work?
In any ecosystem there are ecological switches that exist that spin the eco system with a cascading effect into succession or collapse. Natural plant community succession moves the plant community towards a fungal-based system (succession). Catastrophic plant community collapse is a fungal-based system going to a bacterial-based system quickly (Drake, Case). Native animals, plants and soil organisms work to keep the system stable and moving through succession. For most plants other than winter vegetables and 'color' annuals (these plants are called ruderals,) you need to use community switches (Wilson & Agnew, Grime).
What are the habitats of the ocean and rivers in California?
Where California’s rivers meet the ocean, estuaries and wetlands form critical habitats for wildlife and humans. They serve as nursery grounds for fish, many of which are commercial species vital to California’s coastal economy. Migrating birds stop to rest, feed and breed.
How many miles of coastline does California have?
California’s more than 1,100 miles of coastline, and the waters offshore, directly support our state’s robust economy. Coastal tourism and recreation, agriculture and fisheries all depend on healthy ocean and coastal ecosystems. Tourism and recreation.
What are the keystone predators in kelp forests?
In kelp forests, sea otters are well-known keystone predators. They keep sea urchin populations in check, which allows kelp to flourish and provides habitat for a host of other species. The story of sea otter loss and recovery has had dramatic consequences for the health of Monterey Bay’s kelp forests.
What are the habitats of Monterey Bay?
California’s unique ocean habitats. The iconic wildlife of Monterey Bay depend on healthy ocean habitats , including: Kelp forests. Giant kelp plants form dense, sunlight-dappled forests that sway rhythmically in the cool waters of many of the world’s oceans.
What is the Monterey Bay Aquarium?
The Monterey Bay area is home to more than a dozen leading marine research institutions , including the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The region is a global capital for ocean science and technology and Monterey Bay is among the most studied areas of the ocean.
What is Monterey Bay?
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, one of California's four national marine sanctuaries, stretches more than 5,000 square miles, from the Channel Island s to the Sonoma coast . Habitat restoration.
What animals are migratory in California?
These traveling animals also include fishes, sharks and turtles. Whales cruise the California coast as they migrate between breeding grounds in Baja California and their summer feeding grounds in Alaska.
Overview
The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions (such as the Mojave Desert), Mediterranean ecoregions (such as the Central Valley), forested mountains (su…
Deserts
California's high mountains block most moisture from reaching the eastern parts of the state, which are home to California's desert and xeric shrub ecoregions. The low desert of southeastern California is part of the Sonoran desert ecoregion, which extends into Arizona and parts of northern Mexico. California has two high deserts: the Mojave desert and the Great Basin Desert. The Mojave desert ecoregion is marked by the presence of Joshua trees. The dry cold Great Basin desert of …
Mediterranean ecoregions
The coast of California from Monterey Bay south to the Mexican border, and inland from San Francisco Bay Area to the Sierra Nevada foothills contain California's Mediterranean ecoregions. This region is divided by the WWF into three California chaparral and woodlands ecoregions, plus the Central Valley grasslands. The EPA divides the region between the Central Valley (ecoregion …
Forested mountains
The cooler and wetter mountains of northern California are covered by forest ecoregions. Both the WWF and the EPA divide the mountains into three ecoregions: the Sierra Nevada, the Klamath Mountains, and the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills (occurring on the Modoc Plateau).
The Sierra Nevada are home to half of the vascular plant species of California, …
Coastal forests
The coast of California north of San Francisco contains the Northern California coastal forests (as defined by the WWF) and the southern section of the Coast Range ecoregion (as defined by the EPA). This ecoregion is dominated by redwood forest, containing the tallest and some of the oldest trees in the world.
The redwood forests thrive in a thin belt up to 35 miles (56 km) wide next to th…
See also
• Ecology portal
• California portal
• List of California birds
• Fauna of California
• California Floristic Province