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Ecology Of The Sierra Nevada (United States)
:''See Sierra Nevada for general information about the mountain range in the United States.'' The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. states of California and Nevada, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant part of the scenic beauty of the mountain range. The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soils influences the distribution of ecological communities across an elevation gradient from . Biotic zones range from scrub and chaparral communities at lower elevations, to subalpine forests and alpine meadows at the higher elevations. Particular ecoregions that follow elevation contours are often described as a series of belts that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada. There are many hiking trails, paved and unpaved roads, and vast public lands in the Sierra Nevada for exploring the many different biomes and ecosystems. The western and eastern Sierra Nevada have substantially different species of plants and animals, because the ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra Nevada (U
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western "backbone" of the Americas. The Sierra runs north-south and its width ranges from to across east–west. Notable features include General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume; Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at , the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intensity crown fires. Chaparral features 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 often on drier, southern facing slopes within the chaparral biome. Three other closely related chaparral shrubland systems occur in central Arizona, western Texas, and along the eastern side of central Mexico's mountain chains (mexical), all having summer rains in contrast to the Mediterranean climate of other chaparral formations. Chaparral comprises 9% of California's wildland vegetation and contains 20% of its plant species. The name comes from th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Douglasii
''Quercus douglasii'', known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to (and found only in) California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominant species in the blue oak woodland ecosystem. It is occasionally known as mountain oak and iron oak. Description ''Quercus douglasii'' is a medium-sized tree with sparse foliage, generally tall, with a trunk in diameter at breast height. Trunks are typically solitary, but some trees have multiple trunks. The tallest recorded specimen was found in Alameda County, at . The trees grow slowly, about per year. Individual trees over 500 years old have been recorded. The bark is light gray with many medium-sized dark cracks. The blue-green leaves are tough and leathery, deciduous, long, and entire or shallowly lobed. The acorns are long, with a moderately sweet kernel, and mature in 6–7 months from pollination. ''Q. douglasii'' is mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foothill Woodland
Foothill woodland is a California vegetation type characterized by an overstory of broadleaf and coniferous trees, generally found in areas of higher elevations and more precipitation than grasslands and oak savannah, and at lower elevations and less precipitation than mixed coniferous. Sierra Nevada range In the Sierra Nevada range, it is found on western slopes at elevations of in the northern part of the range, in the central part, and in the southern part.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p. 12-13 Annual precipitation in its range is , with little precipitation in the summer. Growing season is 6–10 months. Temperatures range in the summer, and in winter. In the Sierra Nevada range, it is characterized by a dominant overstory of Foothill Pine ('' Pinus sabiniana''), Blue Oak (''Quercus douglasii''), Interior Live Oak (''Quercus chrysolepis''), California Black Oak (''Quercus kelloggii''), California Buckeye (''Aesculus californica''), and understory p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer consisting primarily of grasses. According to '' Britannica'', there exists four savanna forms; ''savanna woodland'' where trees and shrubs form a light canopy, ''tree savanna'' with scattered trees and shrubs, ''shrub savanna'' with distributed shrubs, and ''grass savanna'' where trees and shrubs are mostly nonexistent.Smith, Jeremy M.B.. "savanna". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Sep. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/science/savanna/Environment. Accessed 17 September 2022. Savannas maintain an open canopy despite a high tree density. It is often believed that savannas feature widely spaced, scattered trees. However, in many savannas, tree densities are higher and trees are more regularly spaced than in for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foothill Woodland Zone
Foothill woodland is a California vegetation type characterized by an overstory of broadleaf and coniferous trees, generally found in areas of higher elevations and more precipitation than grasslands and oak savannah, and at lower elevations and less precipitation than mixed coniferous. Sierra Nevada range In the Sierra Nevada range, it is found on western slopes at elevations of in the northern part of the range, in the central part, and in the southern part.Sierra Nevada Wildflowers, Karen Wiese, 2nd ed, 2013, p. 12-13 Annual precipitation in its range is , with little precipitation in the summer. Growing season is 6–10 months. Temperatures range in the summer, and in winter. In the Sierra Nevada range, it is characterized by a dominant overstory of Foothill Pine ('' Pinus sabiniana''), Blue Oak (''Quercus douglasii''), Interior Live Oak (''Quercus chrysolepis''), California Black Oak (''Quercus kelloggii''), California Buckeye (''Aesculus californica''), and understory p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Valley (California)
The Central Valley is a broad, elongated, flat valley that dominates the interior of California. It is wide and runs approximately from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific coast of the state. It covers approximately , about 11% of California's land area. The valley is bounded by the Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although th ... to the west and the Sierra Nevada to the east. The Central Valley is a list of regions of California, region known for its agricultural productivity: it provides more than half of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts grown in the United States. More than of the valley are irrigated via reservoirs and canals. The valley hosts many cities, including the state capital Sacramento, California, Sacramento ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tree On Hill Foothills Sierra Nevada
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are usable as lumber or plants above a specified height. In wider definitions, the taller palms, tree ferns, bananas, and bamboos are also trees. Trees are not a taxonomic group but include a variety of plant species that have independently evolved a trunk and branches as a way to tower above other plants to compete for sunlight. The majority of tree species are angiosperms or hardwoods; of the rest, many are gymnosperms or softwoods. Trees tend to be long-lived, some reaching several thousand years old. Trees have been in existence for 370 million years. It is estimated that there are some three trillion mature trees in the world. A tree typically has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground by the trunk. This trunk typically c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Natural History Of California
Allan A. Schoenherr (February 6, 1937 – May 31, 2021) was a Californian author, ecologist, and naturalist. He is the author of the widely used reference book, ''A Natural History of California''. He received his PhD in zoology at Arizona State University and taught a long-running course on natural history of California University of California, Irvine. He is emeritus professor of ecology in Fullerton College. He taught classes for the Desert Institute of the Joshua Tree National Park Association. An accomplished nature photographer, he has provided the photographs to illustrate his books and he has received two awards for his images of California Gray Whales. A lover of the outdoors, he has traveled, hiked, and photographed all over the world. He has been the naturalist on many shipboard excursions including trips to Iceland, Greenland, Russia, Alaska, the Arctic and the Antarctic, the lagoons of Baja California, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean. As a biology professor on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecosystems
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the system through photosynthesis and is incorporated into plant tissue. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and energy through the system. They also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. By breaking down dead organic matter, decomposers release carbon back to the atmosphere and facilitate nutrient cycling by converting nutrients stored in dead biomass back to a form that can be readily used by plants and microbes. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem. Interna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomes
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large areas, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a defined space on a much smaller scale. For example, the human microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms that are present on or in a human body. A biota is the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere. Etymology The term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for ''biotic community'' of Möbius (1877). Later, it gained its cur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Lands
In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countries. The following examples illustrate some of the range. Commonwealth countries In several Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada, public lands are referred to as Crown lands. Recent proposals to sell Crown lands have been highly controversial. France In France, (french: domaine public) may be held by communes, ''départements'', or the central State. Portugal In Portugal the land owned by the State, by the two autonomous regions (Azores and Madeira) and by the local governments (municipalities ( Portuguese: ''municípios'') and ''freguesias'') can be of two types: public domain ( Portuguese: ''domínio público'') and private domain ( Portuguese: ''domínio privado''). The latter is owned like any private e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
