The maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests are rare temperate forest assemblages associated with a limited range portion of the

Santa Cruz Mountains The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and Northern California, United States. They form a ridge down the San Francisco Peninsula, south of San Francisco. They separate the Pacific Ocean from ...

of northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. There are only three known small forests of this type, all situated in

Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz County (), officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the Santa ...

. The dominant tree species is the

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...

Description

This sparse forest type thrives on very sandy Zayante

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

s that are isolated pockets of decomposing

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

from the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

terraces of the coastal range. These forests are deemed to be

relict A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon. Biology A relict (or relic) is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas. Geology and geomorphology In geology, a r ...

s of once larger expanses found when this region was geologically even younger, and hence had more evidence of the

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

of the ancient

uplift Uplift may refer to: Science * Geologic uplift, a geological process ** Tectonic uplift, a geological process * Stellar uplift, the theoretical prospect of moving a stellar mass * Uplift mountains * Llano Uplift * Nemaha Uplift Business * Uplif ...

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

floor. One of these three forests is located atop a ridge that straddles the

Carbonera Creek Carbonera Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, that eventually flows to the San Lorenzo River. The str ...

and

Zayante Creek Zayante Creek (Ohlone: ''Sayant'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 stream within the San Lorenzo River watershed in Santa Cruz County, California, Uni ...

watershedsUSGS Quadrangle Map, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1980). of

within the western slopes of the

. The forest in the Carbonera Creek watershed is also home to two

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s whose narrow range is closely associated with the maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests.USFWS
Determination of endangered status for two insects from the Santa Cruz Mountains of California.
''Federal Register'' January 24, 1997.

References

External links

U.S. listing document for two endangered insects within maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests
Plant communities of California Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Geography of Santa Cruz County, California Forests of California Natural history of Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz Mountains {{SantaCruzCountyCA-geo-stub

Description

See also

References

External links