1.
Larrea tridentata
–
In Sonora, it is more commonly called hediondilla. It is a plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. The specific name refers to its three-toothed leaves. The species grows as far east as Zapata County, Texas, L. tridentata is an evergreen shrub growing to 1 to 3 m tall, rarely 4 m. The stems of the plant bear resinous, dark green leaves with two opposite lanceolate leaflets joined at the base, with a deciduous awn between them, each leaflet 7 to 18 mm long and 4 to 8.5 mm broad. The flowers are up to 25 mm in diameter, with five yellow petals, galls may form by the activity of the creosote gall midge. The whole plant exhibits a characteristic odor of creosote, from which the name derives. In the regions where it grows, its smell is associated with the smell of rain. As the creosote bush grows older, its oldest branches eventually die and this normally happens when the plant is 30 to 90 years old. Eventually, the old crown dies and the new one becomes a clonal colony from the previous plant, the King Clone creosote ring is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. It has been alive an estimated 11,700 years, in the central Mojave Desert near present-day Lucerne Valley, California. Measurements of the plant, as well as radiocarbon dating of fragments, were used to determine the plants mean annual growth rate outward from the center of the ring. By measuring the diameter of the ring, its age could be estimated. It is within the Creosote Rings Preserve of the Lucerne Valley, Creosote bush is most common on the well-drained soils of alluvial fans and flats. In parts of its range, it may cover areas in practically pure stands. Chemicals found in creosote bush roots have shown to inhibit the growth of burro bush roots. Creosote bush stands tend to display an evenly spaced distribution of plants, originally, it was assumed that the plant produced a water-soluble inhibitor that prevented the growth of other bushes near mature, healthy bushes. Owing to the harshness of the germination environment above mature root systems, germination is actually quite active during wet periods, but most of the young plants die very quickly unless water conditions are optimal
Larrea tridentata
–
Larrea tridentata
Larrea tridentata
–
Larrea tridentata in
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park
Larrea tridentata
–
King Clone, the 11,700-year-old creosote bush ring in the
Mojave Desert.
California.
Larrea tridentata
–
A young Larrea tridentata plant
2.
Shrubland
–
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterised by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity and it may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for habitation because of the danger of fire. The term shrubland was coined in 1903, shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers, and fire-induced germination. In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a woody plant less than 8 m high. Tall shrubs are mostly 2–8 m high, small shrubs 1–2 m high, Mediterranean scrublands Mediterranean scrublands occur naturally in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biomes, located in the five Mediterranean climate regions of the world. Scrublands are most common near the seacoast, and have adapted to the wind. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean Basin are known as garrigue in France, phrygana in Greece, tomillares in Spain, and batha in Israel. Interior scrublands Interior scrublands occur naturally in areas where soils are nutrient-poor. Florida scrub is another example of interior scrublands, dwarf shrubs Some vegetation types are formed of dwarf-shrubs, low-growing or creeping shrubs. These include the maquis and garrigues of Mediterranean climates, and the acid-loving dwarf shrubs of heathland and moorland, fynbos Maquis Prostrate shrub Semi-desert Shrub-steppe Shrub swamp Moorland
Shrubland
–
Low shrubland in
Hawaii
Shrubland
–
Scrub vegetation with
cactus in
Webb County in south
Texas
Shrubland
–
Prince Edward County bird observatory shrubland.
Shrubland
–
Fynbos in South Africa
3.
Heath (habitat)
–
A heath is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler, heaths are widespread worldwide, but are fast disappearing and considered a rare habitat in Europe. They form extensive and highly diverse communities across Australia in humid and sub-humid areas where fire regimes with recurring burning are required for the maintenance of the heathlands, even more diverse though less widespread heath communities occur in Southern Africa. Extensive heath communities can also be found in the California chaparral, New Caledonia, central Chile, in addition to these extensive heath areas, the vegetation type is also found in scattered locations across all continents, except Antarctica. Heaths are dominated by low shrubs,20 centimetres to 2 metres tall, heath vegetation can be extremely plant-species rich, and heathlands of Australia are home to some 3,700 endemic or typical species in addition to numerous less restricted species. The fynbos heathlands of South Africa are second only to tropical rainforests in plant biodiversity with over 7,000 species, in marked contrast, the tiny pockets of heathland in Europe are extremely depauperate with a flora consisting primarily of heather, heath and gorse. The bird fauna of heathlands are usually species of the region. In the depauperate heathlands of Europe bird species tend to be characteristic of the community and include Montagus harrier. Australian heathlands are also home to the worlds only nectar-feeding terrestrial mammal, the bird fauna of the South African fynbos includes sunbirds, warblers and siskins. Heathlands are also an excellent habitat for insects including ants, moths, butterflies and these heaths were originally created or expanded by centuries of human clearance of the natural forest and woodland vegetation, by grazing and burning. Referring to heathland in England, Rackham says, “Heaths are clearly the product of human activities and need to be managed as heathland, in recent years the conservation value of even these man-made heaths has become much more appreciated, and consequently most heathlands are protected. However they are threatened by tree incursion because of the discontinuation of traditional management techniques such as grazing and burning that mediated the landscapes. Some are also threatened by urban sprawl, anthropogenic heathlands are maintained artificially by a combination of grazing and periodic burning, or mowing, if not so maintained, they are rapidly re-colonised by forest or woodland. The re-colonising tree species will depend on what is available as the seed source. Bolster heath Chalk heath Garrigue Maquis shrubland Matorral Scrubland The Countryside Agency information on types of open land Origin of the word heath
Heath (habitat)
–
Heathland at
Woodbury Common, Devon (England), featuring purple flowers of
Calluna vulgaris and yellow flowers of
Ulex gallii
Heath (habitat)
–
Heath landscape in the
Stirling Range, Western Australia, with a
dieback -infested valley in the mid-ground
Heath (habitat)
–
Fynbos heathland,
South Africa
Heath (habitat)
–
Lüneburg Heath, an anthropogenic heath in
Lower Saxony, northern Germany
4.
Plant community
–
The components of each plant community are influenced by soil type, topography, climate and human disturbance. In many cases there are several soil types within a given phytocoenosis, a plant community can be described floristically and/or physiognomically. For example, a forest includes the overstory, or upper layer of the canopy, as well as the understory, further subdivided into the shrub layer, herbaceous layer. In some cases of complex forests there is also a well-defined lower tree layer, a plant community can be rare even if none of the major species defining it are rare. This is because it is the association of species and relationship to their environment that may be rare, an example is the Sycamore Alluvial Woodland in California dominated by the California sycamore Platanus racemosa. The community is rare, being localized to an area of California and existing nowhere else. An example is a grassland on the northern Caucasus Steppes, where common grass species found are Festuca sulcata, a common sedge in this grassland phytocoenosis is Carex shreberi. Other representative forbs occurring in these grasslands are Artemisia austriaca. An example of a three tiered plant community is in Central Westland of South Island, New Zealand and these forests are the most extensive continuous reaches of podocarp/broadleaf forests in that country. The overstory includes miro, rimu and mountain totara, community Association size-asymmetric competition Ecosystem Habitat Phytosociology Salt Marsh Stand level modelling Jean-Michel Gobat, Michel Aragno, Willy Matthey and V. A. K. Sarma. The living soil C. Michael Hogan, crown Fern, Blechnum discolor, Globaltwitcher. com, ed. N. Stromberg J. M. Suttie, Stephen G. Reynolds and Caterina Batello. Grasslands of the world, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations,514 pages
Plant community
–
Alpine Heathland plant community at High Shelf Camp near
Mount Anne,
Tasmania,
Australia
5.
California
–
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
California
–
A forest of redwood trees in
Redwood National Park
California
–
Flag
California
–
Mount Shasta
California
–
Aerial view of the
California Central Valley
6.
Baja California Peninsula
–
The Baja California Peninsula is a peninsula in Northwestern Mexico. Its land mass separates the Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of California, the peninsula extends 1,247 km from Mexicali, Baja California in the north to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur in the south. It ranges from 40 km at its narrowest to 320 km at its widest point and has approximately 3,000 km of coastline, the total area of the Baja California Peninsula is 143,390 km2. The peninsula is separated from mainland Mexico by the Gulf of California, there are four main desert areas on the peninsula, the San Felipe Desert, the Central Coast Desert, the Vizcaíno Desert and the Magdalena Plain Desert. The land of California existed as a myth among European explorers before it was discovered, the earliest known mention of the idea of California was in the 1510 romance novel Las Sergas de Esplandián by Spanish author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Its first expedition reached the Gulf of California and California, nevertheless, the idea of the island persisted for well over a century and was included in many maps. 1532, Hernán Cortés sends three ships North along the coast of Mexico in search of the Island of California, the three ships disappear without a trace. 1533, Cortés sends a mission to search for the lost ships. Pilot Fortún Ximénez leads a mutiny and founds a settlement in the Bay of La Paz before being killed,1539, Francisco de Ulloa explores both coasts. 1690s–1800s, Spanish settlement and colonization in lower Las Californias, the first Spanish missions in Baja California are established by Jesuit missionaries,1701, The first report and a map showing California as a peninsula rather than an island is sent to Europe. 1767, Jesuits expelled, Franciscans take over the Baja missions,1769, Franciscans go with the Portola expedition to establish new missions in Alta California. Control of the existing Baja missions passes to the Dominican Order,1773, Francisco Palóus line demarcates Franciscan and Dominican areas of mission control. 1804, Las Californias divided into Alta and Baja California, using Palóus line, 1810–1821, Mexican War of Independence 1821, First Mexican Empire, Baja California Territory established, covering Baja California Peninsula. 1847, The Battle of La Paz and the Siege of La Paz occurs,1848, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo cedes Alta California to the United States. As a U. S. territory it receives the California Gold Rush,1850, California admitted to U. S. statehood. 1853, William Walker, with 45 men, captures the city of La Paz. Mexico forces him to retreat a few months later, 1930–31, The Territory of Baja California is further divided into Northern and Southern territories. 1952, The North Territory of Baja California becomes the 29th State of Mexico, the southern portion, below 28°N, remains a federally administered territory
Baja California Peninsula
–
Satellite image of the Baja California Peninsula
Baja California Peninsula
–
Isla Partida, which is part of the
San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago National Park
Baja California Peninsula
–
Port of
Cabo San Lucas
Baja California Peninsula
–
Baja California as seen in April 1984, from the bay of a Space Shuttle (
STS 41)
7.
Mediterranean climate
–
A Mediterranean climate /ˌmɛdɪtəˈreɪniən/ or dry summer climate, is the climate typical of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin. The Mediterranean climate is characterised by dry summers and mild, moist winters, the Azores High is associated with the Mediterranean climate found in southern Europe and north Africa and the Sahara Desert with France and England both bordering this climate, France especially. The South Atlantic High is similarly associated with the Namib Desert, under the Köppen climate classification, hot dry-summer climates and cool dry-summer climates are often referred to as mediterranean. Under the Köppen climate system, the first letter indicates the climate group, temperate climates or C zones have an average temperature above 0 °C, but below 18 °C, in their coolest months. The second letter indicates the precipitation pattern, Köppen has defined a dry summer month as a month with less than 30 mm of precipitation and with less than one-third that of the wettest winter month. Some, however, use a 40 mm level, the third letter indicates the degree of summer heat, a represents an average temperature in the warmest month above 22 °C, while b indicates the average temperature in the warmest month below 22 °C. Under the Köppen classification, dry-summer climates usually occur on the sides of continents. Under Trewarthas system, at least eight months must have average temperatures of 10 °C or higher, during summer, regions of mediterranean climate are dominated by subtropical high pressure cells, with dry sinking air capping a surface marine layer of varying humidity and making rainfall unlikely. In many Mediterranean climates there is a strong character to daily temperatures in the warm months. The majority of the regions with mediterranean climates have relatively mild winters, however winter and summer temperatures can vary greatly between different regions with a mediterranean climate. Or to consider summer, Athens experiences rather high temperatures in that season, in contrast, San Francisco has cool summers with daily highs around. In North America, areas with Csc climate can be found in the Olympic, Cascade, Klamath and these locations are found at high altitude nearby lower altitude regions characterized by a warm-summer mediterranean climate or hot-summer mediterranean climate. A rare instance of this occurs in the tropics, on Haleakalā Summit in Hawaii. In South America, Csc regions can be found along the Andes in Chile, the town of Balmaceda is one of the few towns confirmed to have this climate. Small areas with a Csc climate can also be found at elevations in Corsica. Mediterranean climate Explanation of Mediterranean Climate
Mediterranean climate
–
Mediterranean climate distribution in the Americas
Mediterranean climate
–
Hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa)
8.
Sclerophyllous
–
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that has hard leaves, short internodes and leaf orientation parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. The word comes from the Greek sklēros and phyllon, sclerophyllous plants occur in many parts of the world, but are most typical in the chaparral biomes. The term was coined by A. F. W, schimper in 1898, originally as a synonym of xeromorph, but later was changed. Most areas of the Australian continent able to support woody plants are occupied by sclerophyll communities as forests, common plants include the Proteaceae, tea-trees, acacias, boronias, and eucalypts. The most common sclerophyll communities in Australia are savannas dominated by grasses with an overstorey of eucalypts, acacia shrublands also cover extensive areas. These traits make the majority of plants in these woodlands largely unpalatable to domestic livestock. It is therefore important from a perspective that these woodlands support a more or less continuous layer of herbaceous ground cover dominated by grasses. Sclerophyll forests cover a smaller area of the continent, being restricted to relatively high rainfall locations. They have a eucalyptus overstory with the understory also being hard-leaved, dry sclerophyll forests are the most common forest type on the continent, and although it may seem barren dry sclerophyll forest is highly diverse. For example, a study of vegetation in Seal Creek, Victoria. Even less extensive are wet sclerophyll forests and they have a taller eucalyptus overstory than dry sclerophyll forests,30 metres or more, and a soft-leaved, fairly dense understory. They require ample rainfall — at least 1000mm, sclerophyllous plants are all part of a specific environment and are anything but newcomers. By the time of European settlement, sclerophyll forest accounted for the vast bulk of the forested areas, most of the wooded parts of present-day Australia have become sclerophyll dominated as a result of the extreme age of the continent combined with Aboriginal fire use. Deep weathering of the crust over millions of years leached chemicals out of the rock, leaving Australian soils deficient in nutrients. Such nutrient deficient soils support non-sclerophyllous plant communities elsewhere in the world, however such deficient soils cannot support the nutrient losses associated with frequent fires and are rapidly replaced with sclerophyllous species under traditional Aboriginal burning regimens. With the cessation of traditional burning non-sclerophyllous species have re-colonised sclerophyll habitat in parts of Australia. Sclerophyllous plants generally resist dry conditions well, making them successful in areas of seasonally variable rainfall, the leaves are hard due to lignin, which prevents wilting and allows plants to grow, even when there isnt enough phosphorus for substantial new cell growth
Sclerophyllous
–
Fynbos in
South Africa
Sclerophyllous
–
Bush around Eagle Bay,
Western Australia
Sclerophyllous
–
Blackbutt (
Eucalyptus pilularis) in sclerophyll forest,
Sydney
9.
Scrubland
–
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterised by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity and it may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for habitation because of the danger of fire. The term shrubland was coined in 1903, shrubland species generally show a wide range of adaptations to fire, such as heavy seed production, lignotubers, and fire-induced germination. In botany and ecology a shrub is defined as a woody plant less than 8 m high. Tall shrubs are mostly 2–8 m high, small shrubs 1–2 m high, Mediterranean scrublands Mediterranean scrublands occur naturally in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biomes, located in the five Mediterranean climate regions of the world. Scrublands are most common near the seacoast, and have adapted to the wind. Low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean Basin are known as garrigue in France, phrygana in Greece, tomillares in Spain, and batha in Israel. Interior scrublands Interior scrublands occur naturally in areas where soils are nutrient-poor. Florida scrub is another example of interior scrublands, dwarf shrubs Some vegetation types are formed of dwarf-shrubs, low-growing or creeping shrubs. These include the maquis and garrigues of Mediterranean climates, and the acid-loving dwarf shrubs of heathland and moorland, fynbos Maquis Prostrate shrub Semi-desert Shrub-steppe Shrub swamp Moorland
Scrubland
–
Low shrubland in
Hawaii
Scrubland
–
Scrub vegetation with
cactus in
Webb County in south
Texas
Scrubland
–
Prince Edward County bird observatory shrubland.
Scrubland
–
Fynbos in South Africa
10.
Coastal sage scrub
–
It is within the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Plant community Coastal sage scrub is characterized by low-growing aromatic, flora Characteristic shrubs and subshrubs include, California sagebrush, black sage, white sage, California buckwheat, coast brittle-bush, golden yarrow. Larger shrubs include, toyon and lemonade berry, herbaceous plants, grasses, and in some locales, cacti and succulents, are also part of the flora. The coastal sage plant community is divided into two geographical subtypes — northern coastal scrub and southern coastal scrub. Northern coastal scrub occurs along the Pacific Coast from the northern San Francisco Bay Area northwards to southern Oregon and it frequently forms a landscape mosaic with the California coastal prairie plant community. The predominant plants are low evergreen shrubs and herbs, Characteristic shrubs include coyote brush, yerba santa, coast silk-tassel, salal, and yellow bush lupine. Herbaceous species include western blue-eyed grass, Douglas iris, and grasses, Southern coastal scrub is mostly found along the maritime Central Coast region, and the terraces and mountains with coastal climate influence in Southern California. The plants of this community prefer the mild maritime climates found along Southern Californias coastline, world Wildlife Fund estimates that only 15 percent of the coastal sage scrublands remain undeveloped. Bernard Field Station at the Claremont Colleges, in San Diego County, the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base protects larger areas, and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar has vernal pools and the endemic mint Pogogyne abramsii. One of the largest remaining areas of coastal sage scrub is found in the Temescal Mountains of Riverside County. A number of rare and endangered species occur in coastal scrub habitats. For example, the California gnatcatcher is a bird species endemic to the coastal sage scrublands. Other endemic fauna includes the El Segundo blue butterfly in the LAX dunes, the endangered Torrey pine is the dominant tree at Torrey Pines State Reserve in San Diego, one of only two known stands of this pine species. Terrace California coastal prairie California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion Native grasses of California Index, California chaparral and woodlands In, Mayer KE, a Guide to Wildlife Habitats of California. Sacramento, CA, California Department of Fish and Game, Coastal Scrub, de Becker, berkeley, CA, University of California Press. California coastal sage scrub and chaparral, Claremont Colleges, Robert J. Bernard Field Station website — Lists and photographs of organisms found in Coastal sage scrub. Las Pilitas horticulture database, California coastal sage plant community — text. Theodore Payne Foundation for Wild Flowers and Native Plants, Native Plant Guides — Southern California species
Coastal sage scrub
–
Coastal sage scrub in the
Santa Monica Mountains. Note
slope effect.
Coastal sage scrub
–
Coastal Sage Scrub on the
Santa Rosa Plateau, with
oak woodland in background.
Coastal sage scrub
–
Southern coastal scrub in the
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Coastal sage scrub
–
Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana) and Southern coastal scrub,
Santa Rosa Island.
11.
Spanish language
–
Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
Spanish language
–
A page of
Cantar de Mio Cid, the oldest preserved Spanish
epic poem, in medieval Spanish.
Spanish language
–
Spanish is sole official language at the national level
Spanish language
–
Antonio de Nebrija, author of
Gramática de la lengua castellana, the first grammar of modern European languages.
Spanish language
–
Miguel de Cervantes author of
Don Quixote, considered the first modern European novel.
12.
Quercus coccifera
–
Quercus coccifera, the kermes oak, is an oak in the Quercus section Cerris. The Kermes Oak was historically important as the plant of the Kermes scale insect. The etymology of the specific name coccifera is related to the production of red dye and derived from Latin coccum which was from Greek κὀκκος. Quercus coccifera is usually a shrub less 2 metres tall, rarely a small tree and it is evergreen, with spiny-serrated coriaceous leaves 1. 5–4 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. The acorns are 2–3 cm long and 1. 5–2 cm diameter when mature about 18 months after pollination and they are held in a cup covered in dense, elongated, reflexed scales. The kermes oak, Quercus coccifera is a scrub oak closely related to the Palestine oak of the eastern Mediterranean, the Palestine oak is distinguished from it by its larger size and larger acorns over 2 cm diameter. The communities receiving several characteristic names and it is indifferent to chemistry of soils, living on calcareous, pebbly, stony and poor soils. A lover of warm weather, it starts to fail from 1000 metres above sea level and it is capable of supporting the continental Mediterranean climate with extreme temperatures and low rainfall, replacing Quercus ilex in drier areas where it excels in drought resistance. It also grows on sea cliffs and in areas where other species of Quercus or Pinus cannot resist the harsh weather conditions. Kermes oak species grow in dry, sunny slopes, Quercus coccifera supports either drought summers and semi-desert climate with rainfall between 400 and 600mm, with a maximum in the fall and spring. In its habitat summers are hot and winters are cold with the dry season with more than 35 °C. In winter the temperatures drop below 0 °C. It lives in areas with moisture produced by condensation fogs, many Ground frost on clear nights, a very hardy species, it grows well in all types of soils as a shrub, withstanding overgrazing. It blooms from March to May in weather still wet and it is easily propagated by seed, an acorn that lies dormant until germinated by wet weather. This might occur anywhere from late summer to late autumn or early winter of the following year, the acorns are very bitter, varying greatly in size and shape from one specimen to another and tasting bad. Acorns can germinate even before falling from the plant, but Quercus coccifera is also multiplied by root suckers, Kermes oaks have become scarce, due to their replacement in wet zones by larger species such as Holm oak. It has also suffered from extensive culling for use as charcoal and it is the only food and shelter for wildlife in some areas, such as the Ebro valley and other dry areas where chaparral replaces oaks due to low rainfall. It is the last Quercus genus species to disappear when rainfall is lacking and their ecological importance is as a habitat and food source in these areas for nesting birds, foxes, rodents and wild boars
Quercus coccifera
–
Quercus coccifera kermes oak
Quercus coccifera
–
Quercus coccifera -
MHNT
Quercus coccifera
–
Flowering,
Castelltallat.
13.
Mediterranean Basin
–
As a rule of thumb, the Mediterranean Basin is the Old World region where olive trees grow. The Mediterranean basin covers portions of three continents Africa, Asia, and Europe and it has a varied and contrasting topography. Contrary to the sandy beach images portrayed in most tourist brochures. Mountains can be seen from almost anywhere, the Mediterranean Basin extends into Western Asia, covering the western and southern portions of the peninsula of Turkey, excluding the temperate-climate mountains of central Turkey. It includes the Mediterranean climate Levant at the end of the Mediterranean, bounded on the east and south by the Syrian. The northern portion of the Maghreb region of northwestern Africa has a Mediterranean climate, separated from the Sahara Desert, Europe lies to the north, and three large Southern European peninsulas, the Iberian Peninsula, Italian Peninsula, and the Balkan Peninsula, extend into the Mediterranean-climate zone. The Mediterranean Basin was shaped by the ancient collision of the northward-moving African-Arabian continent with the stable Eurasian continent, as Africa-Arabia moved north, it closed the former Tethys Sea, which formerly separated Eurasia from the ancient super continent of Gondwana, of which Africa was part. At about the time,170 mya in the Jurassic period. The collision pushed up a vast system of mountains, extending from the Pyrenees in Spain to the Zagros Mountains in Iran and this episode of mountain building, known as the Alpine orogeny, occurred mostly during the Oligocene and Miocene epochs. The Neotethys became larger during these collisions and associated folding and subduction, about 6 mya during the late Miocene, the Mediterranean was closed at its western end by drifting Africa, which caused the entire sea to evaporate. There followed several episodes of sea drawdown and re-flooding known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis, recent studies, however, show that repeated desiccation and re-flooding is unlikely from a geodynamic point of view. The end of the Miocene also marked a change in the Mediterranean Basins climate, fossil evidence shows that the Mediterranean Basin had a relatively humid subtropical climate with summer rainfall during the Miocene, which supported laurel forests. The shift to a Mediterranean climate occurred within the last 3. 2–2.8 million years, during the Pliocene epoch, much of these forests and shrublands have been altered beyond recognition by thousands of years of human habitation. There are now very few relatively intact natural areas in what was once a wooded region. The Mediterranean Region was first proposed by German botanist August Grisebach in the late 19th century, drosophyllaceae, recently segregated from Droseraceae, is the only plant family endemic to the region. Among the endemic plant genera are, The genera Aubrieta, Sesamoides, Cynara, Dracunculus, moreover, many plant taxa are shared with one of the four neighboring floristic regions only. The Mediterranean Basin is the largest of the worlds five Mediterranean forests, woodlands and it is home to a number of plant communities, which vary with rainfall, elevation, latitude, and soils. Scrublands occur in the driest areas, especially areas near the seacoast where wind, low, soft-leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean are known as garrigar in Catalan, garrigue in French, phrygana in Greek, tomillares in Spanish, and batha in Hebrew
Mediterranean Basin
–
Potential distribution over the Mediterranean Basin of the olive tree—one of the best biological indicators of the Mediterranean Region (Oteros, 2014)
Mediterranean Basin
–
Political Map of the Mediterranean Basin
14.
Chile
–
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a South American country occupying a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, Chilean territory includes the Pacific islands of Juan Fernández, Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island in Oceania. Chile also claims about 1,250,000 square kilometres of Antarctica, the arid Atacama Desert in northern Chile contains great mineral wealth, principally copper. Southern Chile is rich in forests and grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes, the southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands. Spain conquered and colonized Chile in the century, replacing Inca rule in northern and central Chile. After declaring its independence from Spain in 1818, Chile emerged in the 1830s as a relatively stable authoritarian republic, in the 1960s and 1970s the country experienced severe left-right political polarization and turmoil. The regime, headed by Augusto Pinochet, ended in 1990 after it lost a referendum in 1988 and was succeeded by a coalition which ruled through four presidencies until 2010. Chile is today one of South Americas most stable and prosperous nations and it leads Latin American nations in rankings of human development, competitiveness, income per capita, globalization, state of peace, economic freedom, and low perception of corruption. It also ranks high regionally in sustainability of the state, Chile is a founding member of the United Nations, the Union of South American Nations and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. There are various theories about the origin of the word Chile, another theory points to the similarity of the valley of the Aconcagua with that of the Casma Valley in Peru, where there was a town and valley named Chili. Another origin attributed to chilli is the onomatopoeic cheele-cheele—the Mapuche imitation of the warble of a locally known as trile. The Spanish conquistadors heard about this name from the Incas, ultimately, Almagro is credited with the universalization of the name Chile, after naming the Mapocho valley as such. The older spelling Chili was in use in English until at least 1900 before switching over to Chile, stone tool evidence indicates humans sporadically frequented the Monte Verde valley area as long as 18,500 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, migrating Native Americans settled in fertile valleys, settlement sites from very early human habitation include Monte Verde, Cueva del Milodon and the Pali Aike Craters lava tube. They fought against the Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui and his army, the result of the bloody three-day confrontation known as the Battle of the Maule was that the Inca conquest of the territories of Chile ended at the Maule river. The next Europeans to reach Chile were Diego de Almagro and his band of Spanish conquistadors, the Spanish encountered various cultures that supported themselves principally through slash-and-burn agriculture and hunting. The conquest of Chile began in earnest in 1540 and was carried out by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Francisco Pizarros lieutenants, who founded the city of Santiago on 12 February 1541. Although the Spanish did not find the gold and silver they sought, they recognized the agricultural potential of Chiles central valley
Chile
–
The
Mapuche people were the original inhabitants of southern and central Chile.
Chile
–
Flag
Chile
–
Pedro de Valdivia
Chile
–
Bernardo O'Higgins, The Supreme Director of Chile.
15.
Chilean Matorral
–
The Chilean Matorral is a terrestrial ecoregion of central Chile, located on the west coast of South America. It is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, Matorral is typically characterized by a temperate Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers. It is one of the worlds five Mediterranean climate regions, which are all located in the latitudes on the west coast of continents. The Matorral occupies central Chile between 32° and 37° south latitude, the Pacific Ocean lies to the west, and the Chilean Coastal Range lies parallel to the coast. The Chilean Central Valley lies between the Coastal range and the Andes Mountains, which bound the Matorral ecoregion on the east, to the north is the extremely dry Atacama desert, which separates the Matorral from the tropical forests of northern South America. A semi-desert region known as El Norte Chico, lies between 28° and 32° south latitude, and is the zone between the Atacama desert and the Matorral. To the south lies the cooler and wetter Valdivian temperate rain forests ecoregion, the Chilean Matorral ecoregion is home to several plant communities. Coastal Matorral is a low, soft scrubland which extends from La Serena in the north to Valparaiso in the south, typical species are the coastal daisy, Palhuén, and Palo de Yagua, the wild coastal fuchsia. The coastal matorral is similar to the garrigue of the Mediterranean Basin, Matorral is a shrubland plant community, composed of sclerophyll shrubs and small trees, cactus, and bromeliads. Typical species include Litre, Quillay or Soapbark Tree, cactus, and bromeliads of genus Puya, with an understory of herbs, vines. The matorral is similar to the chaparral of California and the maquis of the Mediterranean Basin, much of the espinal was formerly matorral, degraded over the centuries by intensive grazing of sheep, goats, and cattle. Sclerophyll woodlands and forests were once extensive, but now exist in small patches in the coast ranges. The sclerophyll forests and woodlands are composed predominantly of evergreen trees, including Peumo, Boldo, Mayten. The ecoregion has many endemic plant species, with affinities to the South American tropics, the Antarctic flora, about 95% of the plant species are endemic to Chile, including Gomortega keule, Pitavia punctata, Nothofagus alessandrii, and the Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis. The Matorral contains the majority of Chiles population and largest cities, the Central valley is Chiles main agricultural region, and the region is also subject to extensive grazing, logging, and urbanization. Of Chiles ecoregions, the Matorral is the least protected by national parks, Plant Life in the Worlds Mediterranean Climates, California, Chile, South Africa, Australia, and the Mediterranean Basin. California Native Plant Society and University of California Press, Berkeley, C. Michael Hogan Chilean Wine Palm, Jubaea chilensis, GlobalTwitcher. com, ed. N. Stromberg Chilean Matorral
Chilean Matorral
–
Mattoral scene in Cerro La Campana with
Chilean palm trees
Chilean Matorral
–
Jubaea chilensis forest at
Cerro La Campana
16.
South Africa
–
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
South Africa
–
Mapungubwe Hill, the site of the former capital of the
Kingdom of Mapungubwe
South Africa
–
Flag
South Africa
–
Arrival of
Jan van Riebeeck, the first European to settle in South Africa, with
Devil's Peak in the background
South Africa
–
Depiction of a
Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838
17.
Fynbos
–
Fynbos is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located on the Western Cape of South Africa. This area is predominantly winter rainfall coastal and mountainous areas with a Mediterranean climate, the fynbos ecoregion is within the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. This land has faced threats and still does, but due to the many economic uses conservation efforts are being made to help restore it. The word fynbos is often said to mean fine bush in Afrikaans. Typical fynbos foliage is ericoid rather than fine, the term, in its pre-Afrikaans, Dutch form, fynbosch, was recorded by Noble as being in casual use in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, John Bews referred to, South-Western or Cape Region of Macchia or Fynbosch and he also refers to a high degree of endemism in the grasses in that region. However, in the technical, ecological sense, the constraints are more demanding, in the latter half of the 20th century, fynbos gained currency as the term for the distinctive vegetation of the southwestern Cape. The fynbos in the regions is richer and more varied than in the eastern regions of South Africa. Of the worlds six floral kingdoms, this is the smallest and richest per unit of area, the Holarctic kingdom, in contrast, incorporates the whole of the Northern Hemisphere north of the tropics. The diversity of plants is extremely high, with over 9000 species of plants occurring in the area, around 6200 of which are endemic. South Africas Western Cape has a level of diversity that exceeds that of the richest tropical rainforest in South America. Of the Ericas, over 600 occur in the fynbos kingdom and this is in an area of 46,000 km2 – by comparison, the Netherlands, with an area of 33,000 km2, has 1400 species, none of them endemic. Table Mountain in Cape Town supports 2200 species, more than the entire United Kingdom. Thus, although the covers only 6% of the area of southern Africa, it has half the species on the subcontinent –. The most conspicuous components of the flora are evergreen plants, many with ericoid leaves and gracile habit. Several plant families are conspicuous in fynbos, the Proteaceae are prominent, with such as Protea, Leucospermum. Proteas are represented by species and are prominent in the landscape, generally with large striking flowers, many of which are pollinated by birds. Most of these do not have anything like ericoid leaves, and nor do most Rhamnaceae, Fabaceae, Fynbos Ericaceae include more species of Erica than all other regions combined
Fynbos
–
Mountain fynbos on the
Cape Peninsula
Fynbos
–
The
Cape Floral Kingdom (Capensis) is one of only 6
floristic kingdoms in the world. It is also the smallest and richest per unit of area.
Fynbos
–
Peninsula Shale Fynbos flora on
Devils Peak,
Cape Town.
Fynbos
–
Gladiolus alatus flowers in Cape fynbos.
18.
Australia
–
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
Australia
–
Aboriginal rock art in the
Kimberley region of Western Australia
Australia
Australia
–
Portrait of Captain
James Cook, the first European to map the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770
Australia
–
Tasmania's
Port Arthur penal settlement is one of eleven UNESCO World Heritage-listed
Australian Convict Sites.
19.
Kwongan
–
Kwongan is an ecoregion found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard as a ‘type of country, sandy and is open without timber-sized trees but with a scrubby vegetation. It consists of plains in an Australian sense of open rather than in a strict sense of flat country. There are two principal plant formations in the kwongan, scrub heath and broombush thicket, are sclerophyll shrublands and possess a certain unity when contrasted with woodland and forest or steppe and succulent steppe communities. To reflect contemporary orthographies, linguists strictly spell kwongan as ‘kwongkan’, fresh water is scarce. even in our rainy season. It is undulating country, the generally small and low. The valleys between these hills are generally extensive and sandy, covered thinly with small shrubs. ’, an 1839 map of Toodyay Valley Land Grants and Locations has on it the term ‘Guangan’ two miles east of Bejoording townsite, south of Bolgart. Another collector Ludwig Preiss spelt the term as ‘quangen’, moore gave the spelling ‘gongan’ for ‘a sandy district. The easiest road, or usual path, or mountain pass to a place’, the town of Wongan Hills derives its name from kwongan. Drummond reported the name of Guangan Catta, which means hills above the kwongan, when he first saw the hills in the distance accompanied by Cabbinger. The same term with a different spelling was recorded by pastoralist J. P. Brooks for the Israelite Bay-Cape Arid district some 900 km SE of Wongan Hills. He described and defined quowcken as the Aboriginal word for sand plain or ‘open plain without timber’, occasionally interspersed with small swamps dominated by trees of ‘yate’, approaching from the northeast after traversing the head of the Great Australian Bight, explorer E. J. Eyre in 1840 noted these same ‘sandy downs, covered with low shrubs or bushes’, hassell recorded the name used by Wilomen people for sand plain as qwonken, and journalist anthropologist Daisy Bates in 1913 was the first to record the spelling as ‘kwongan’. Bibbelmun people clearly used the term widely, across many dialects, the first book devoted to kwongan attempted to divorce the application of the term to both sandy countryside and vegetation, as Noongars had used it. Beard and Pate preferred to apply strictly to vegetation, defining it technically as. Any community of sclerophyll shrubland in south-western Australia which has a stratum +1 m tall or less of leptophyllous and nanophyllous shrubs, conforming to Brooks’ definition, scattered trees were also included as a component of kwongan provided they did not dominate the heaths and thickets. The countryside on which kwongan vegetation most commonly occurred was termed ‘sandplain’ by Beard, such scientific nomenclatural appropriation is controversial today in cross-cultural dialogue. However, a focus on both vegetation and on soils and sand plain will undoubtedly remain important components of kwongan studies, whichever nuance of definition
Kwongan
–
The prostrate form of
Adenanthos cuneatus, a plant characteristic of kwongan heathlands
20.
Basque language
–
Basque is the language spoken by the Basques. Linguistically, Basque is unrelated to the languages of Europe and indeed, as a language isolate. The Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, the Basque Country, the Basque language is spoken by 27% of Basques in all territories. Of these, 93% are in the Spanish area of the Basque Country, native speakers live in a contiguous area that includes parts of four Spanish territories and the three ancient provinces in France. However, in those Basque-speaking regions that supported the uprising the Basque language was more than merely tolerated, overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. As a part of process, a standardized form of the Basque language. Besides its standardised version, the five historic Basque dialects are Biscayan, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese in Spain and they take their names from the historic Basque provinces, but the dialect boundaries are not congruent with province boundaries. Euskara Batua was created so that Basque language could be easily understood by all Basque speakers—in formal situations. In both Spain and France, the use of Basque for education varies from region to region, a language isolate, Basque is believed to be one of the few surviving pre-Indo-European languages in Europe, and the only one in Western Europe. Basque has adopted a good deal of its vocabulary from the Romance languages, the Basque alphabet uses the Latin script. In Basque, the name of the language is officially Euskara, three etymological theories of the name Euskara are taken seriously by linguists and Vasconists. In French, the language is normally called basque, though in recent times euskara has become common, Spanish has a greater variety of names for the language. Today, it is most commonly referred to as el vasco, la lengua vasca, both terms, vasco and basque, are inherited from Latin ethnonym Vascones, which in turn goes back to the Greek term οὐασκώνους, an ethnonym used by Strabo in his Geographica. The Spanish term Vascuence, derived from Latin vasconĭce, has acquired negative connotations over the centuries and is not well-liked amongst Basque speakers generally, Basque is geographically surrounded by Romance languages but is a language isolate unrelated to them. It is the last remaining descendant of one of the languages of Western Europe. Consequently, its prehistory may not be reconstructible by means of the comparative method except by applying it to differences between dialects within the language. Little is known of its origins, but a form of the Basque language likely was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages to the area. Others find this unlikely, see the aizkora controversy, Latin inscriptions in Gallia Aquitania preserve a number of words with cognates in the reconstructed proto-Basque language, for instance, the personal names Nescato and Cison
Basque language
–
Family transmission of Basque language (Basque as initial language)
Basque language
–
Schematic dialect areas of Basque. Light-colored dialects are extinct. See dialects below for details.
Basque language
–
An example of Basque lettering in a funerary stela.
Basque language
–
An example of the number system employed by millers.
21.
Conservation International
–
Conservation International is an American nonprofit environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Its goal is to nature as a source of food, fresh water, livelihoods. CIs work focuses on science, policy, and partnership with businesses and communities, the organization employs more than 1,000 people and works with 2, 000+ partners in more than 30 countries. CI has helped establish 1,200 protected areas across 78 countries and protected more than 730 million hectares of land, marine, in CIs first year, the organization purchased a portion of Bolivias foreign debt. The money was redirected to support conservation in the Beni Biosphere Reserve. Since this first-ever debt-for-nature swap, more than $1 billion of similar deals have made around the world. In 1989, CI formally committed to the protection of biodiversity hotspots, ultimately identifying 34 such hotspots around the world, the model of protecting hotspots became a key way for organizations to do conservation work. The organizations leadership grew to believe that CIs focus on biodiversity conservation was inadequate to protect nature, CI updated its mission in 2008 to focus explicitly on the connections between human well-being and natural ecosystems. As of FY2014, CIs expenses totaled more than US $135.3 million, CI receives high ratings from philanthropic watchdog organizations, with an A rating from Charity Watch. Charity Navigator awarded CI a score of 92.28 out of 100 for accountability, the foundation of CIs work is science, partnership and field demonstration. The organization has scientists, policy workers and other conservationists on the ground in more than 30 countries and it also relies heavily on thousands of local partners. CI works with governments, universities, NGOs and the sector with the aim of replicating these successes on a larger scale. By showing how conservation can work at all scales, CI aims to make the protection of nature a key consideration in economic development decisions around the world. In addition to the management of ocean resources, the agreement includes the worlds largest marine protected areas and sanctuaries for whales, dolphins, turtles. The organization has active in United Nations discussions on issues such as climate change and biodiversity. Its United States policy work currently highlights a connection between international conservation and Americas economic and national security interests. A few years after its founding, CI began working with McDonalds to implement sustainable agriculture, the organization expanded its commitment to working with the business sector in 2000, when it created the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business with support from the Ford Motor Company. CI has been criticized for links to companies with an environmental record such as BP, Cargill, Chevron, Monsanto and Shell
Conservation International
–
Conservation International
22.
Biodiversity hotspot
–
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened with destruction. For example forests are considered as biodiversity hotspots, around the world,36 areas qualify under this definition. These sites support nearly 60% of the plant, bird, mammal, reptile. Only a small percentage of the land area within biodiversity hotspots is now protected. Several international organizations are working in ways to conserve biodiversity hotspots. They are chosen for their species richness, endemism, taxonomic uniqueness, unusual ecological or evolutionary phenomena, all biodiversity hotspots contain at least one Global 200 Ecoregion. Birdlife International has identified 218 “Endemic Bird Areas” each of which two or more bird species found nowhere else. Birdlife International has identified more than 11,000 Important Bird Areas all over the world, Plant life International coordinates several the world aiming to identify Important Plant Areas. Alliance for Zero Extinction is an initiative of a number of scientific organizations. They have identified 595 sites, including a number of Birdlife’ s Important Bird Areas. Papers such as Kareiva & Marvier have argued that the biodiversity hotspots, do not adequately represent taxa other than vascular plants. Do not protect smaller scale richness hotspots, do not make allowances for changing land use patterns. Hotspots represent regions that have experienced considerable habitat loss, but this does not mean they are experiencing ongoing habitat loss, on the other hand, regions that are relatively intact have experienced relatively little land loss, but are currently losing habitat at tremendous rates. A recent series of papers has pointed out that biodiversity hotspots do not address the concept of cost, the purpose of biodiversity hotspots is not simply to identify regions that are of high biodiversity value, but to prioritize conservation spending. The regions identified include some in the world, alongside others in the developing world. The cost of land is likely to vary between regions by an order of magnitude or more, but the biodiversity hotspot designations do not consider the conservation importance of this difference. However, the resources for conservation also tend to vary in this way. R. A. Mittermeier, C. G. Mittermeier, G. A. B. da Fonseca, spyros Sfenthourakis, Anastasios Legakis, Hotspots of endemic terrestrial invertebrates in Southern Greece
Biodiversity hotspot
–
Biodiversity hotspots. Original proposal in green, and added regions in blue.
23.
Biological community
–
A biocenosis coined by Karl Möbius in 1877, describes the interacting organisms living together in a habitat. In the palaeontological literature, the term distinguishes life assemblages, which reflect the original living community, living together at one place, in other words, it is an assemblage of fossils or a community of specific time. Which is different from death assemblages, the geographical extent of a biocenose is limited by the requirement of a more or less uniform species composition. An ecosystem, originally defined by Tansley, is a community along with its physical environment. In ecological studies, biocenosis is the emphasis on relationships between species in an area and these relationships are an additional consideration to the interaction of each species with the physical environment. Biotic communities vary in size, and larger ones may contain smaller ones, species interactions are evident in food or feeding relationships. Mapping biotic communities is important identifying sites needing environmental protection, such as the British Site of Special Scientific Interest, community Hylozoism Population biology Kendeigh, S. Charles. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.468 p. Tansley, the use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms
Biological community
–
A
freshwater aquatic and
terrestrial food web.
Biological community
–
The side of a
tide pool showing
sea stars (Dermasterias),
sea anemones (
Anthopleura) and
sea sponges in Santa Cruz, California.
24.
California chaparral and woodlands
–
The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of lower northern, central, and southern California and northwestern Baja California, located on the west coast of North America. It is an ecoregion of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub Biome, the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion is subdivided into three smaller ecoregions. California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion, In southern coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California, as well as all the Channel Islands of California and Guadalupe Island. California interior chaparral and woodlands, In central interior California surrounding the California Central Valley cover the foothills, the ecoregion includes a great variety of plant communities, including grasslands, oak savannas and woodlands, chaparral, and coniferous forests, including southern stands of the tall coast redwood. Species include the California gnatcatcher, Costas hummingbird, coast horned lizard, other animals found here are the Heermann kangaroo rat, Santa Cruz kangaroo rat, and the endangered white-eared pocket mouse. Another notable insect resident of this ecoregion is the rain beetle It spends up to years living underground in a larval stage. Chaparral, like most Mediterranean shrublands, is highly resilient and historically burned with high-severity. Historically, Native Americans burned chaparral to promote grasslands for textiles, though adapted to infrequent fires, chaparral plant communities can be exterminated by frequent fires especially with climate change induced drought. Today, frequent accidental ignitions can convert chaparral from a native shrubland to nonnative annual grassland and drastically reduce species diversity, some unique plant communities, like southern Californias Coastal Sage Scrub, have been nearly eradicated by agriculture and urbanization. As a result, the now has many rare and endangered species
California chaparral and woodlands
–
California chaparral and woodlands
California chaparral and woodlands
–
Montane chaparral and woodlands in the
Santa Ynez Mountains, near Santa Barbara, California
California chaparral and woodlands
–
Southern
coastal sage and chaparral in the
Santa Monica Mountains, near
Malibu.
California chaparral and woodlands
–
California oak woodlands, in
Gaviota State Park, near Santa Barbara, California
25.
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
–
Overall administration is by the National Park Service, coordinating with state, county, municipal, and university agencies. The Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area preserves one of the best examples of a Mediterranean climate ecosystem in the world and it also protects one of the highest densities of archaeological resources in any mountain range in the world. The Santa Monica Mountains NRA contains 156,671 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains of the Transverse Ranges between the Pacific Ocean and inland valleys and its southeastern slopes are part of the headwaters of the Los Angeles River. In size the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is the largest urban park in the United States. Besides geologic forces, people who inhabited the area in the past have been ones to also affect the land, there were different reasons for people to come into the area. Some came to live and others to work the land, the first groups to live in the mountains were the Native American tribes called the Chumash and the Tongva who lived here for thousands of years. Then came the Spanish Explorers, Rancheros, and Homesteaders from other areas of the country, the Homesteaders brought new ideas and cultures that shaped the landscape and mindset of the area, and California overall. Up to this day, people continue to live, work, places such as Paramount Ranch, Solstice Canyon, and Rancho Sierra Vista/ Satwiwa still have that history that has been left behind by people in the past. The past stories from people are discovered through photographs, letters. Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area strives to make sure the collections, places, the first area in the Santa Monica Mountains set aside for public use was Griffith Park which was donated to the city of Los Angeles by Griffith J. Griffith in 1896. During the first decade of the century, Frederick H. Rindge made several attempts to create a forest reserve in the Santa Monica Mountains. These reserves were precursors to national forests, in 1902 California’s State Mining Bureau examined the area being considered for the establishment of a forest reserve. The resulting report was sent to Washington where the proposal for a reserve was denied, in 1907 an application was submitted to the Secretary of the Interior requesting that at least 70,000 acres in the mountains be designated a forest reserve. This time state mineralogist Lewis E. Aubury opposed the venture and he wrote the L. A. C. and endeavor to ascertain his views on the subject, and further protest against the creation of this proposed reserve”. Days later the U. S. Limestone deposits were discovered in the mountains behind Pacific Palisades in 1925 which led to a battle between wealthy home owners of the area and land developers. The quarry site was in Traylor Canyon, three miles inland from the sea, between Santa Ynez and Temescal Canyons. Alphonzo Bell, Sr. was the real estate developer behind the scheme while local opposition was led by Sylvia Morrison. After much criticism of his plan, Bell offered a new proposal
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
–
Westward Beach at Point Dume
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
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'Balance Rock' near the Mishe Mokwa Trail
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
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King Gillette Ranch Park
26.
Ecoregion
–
An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than an ecozone. All three of these are less or greater than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, the biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches, firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible, secondly, ecoregion boundaries rarely form abrupt edges, rather, ecotones and mosaic habitats bound them. Thirdly, most ecoregions contain habitats that differ from their assigned biome, biogeographic provinces may originate due to various barriers. Some physical, some climatic and some ocean chemical related, the history of the term is somewhat vague as it was used in many contexts, forest classifications, biome classifications, biogeographic classifications, etc. The concept of ecoregion of Bailey gives more importance to ecological criteria, while the WWF concept gives more importance to biogeography, there is significant, but not absolute, spatial correlation among these characteristics, making the delineation of ecoregions an imperfect science. Such transition zones are called ecotones, Ecoregions can be categorized using an algorithmic approach or a holistic, “weight-of-evidence” approach where the importance of various factors may vary. An example of the approach is Robert Bailey’s work for the U. S. The intended purpose of ecoregion delineation may affect the method used, according to WWF, the boundaries of an ecoregion approximate the original extent of the natural communities prior to any major recent disruptions or changes. WWF has identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions, and approximately 450 freshwater ecoregions across the Earth, the use of the term ecoregion is an outgrowth of a surge of interest in ecosystems and their functioning. In particular, there is awareness of issues relating to spatial scale in the study and it is widely recognized that interlinked ecosystems combine to form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by WWF as priorities for conservation, Terrestrial ecoregions are land ecoregions, as distinct from freshwater and marine ecoregions. In this context, terrestrial is used to mean of land, WWF ecologists currently divide the land surface of the Earth into 8 major ecozones containing 867 smaller terrestrial ecoregions. The WWF effort is a synthesis of previous efforts to define. Many consider this classification to be decisive, and some propose these as stable borders for bioregional democracy initiatives. The eight terrestrial ecozones follow the major floral and faunal boundaries, identified by botanists and zoologists, ecozone boundaries generally follow continental boundaries, or major barriers to plant and animal distribution, like the Himalayas and the Sahara
Ecoregion
–
A map location of the
Amazon rainforest ecoregions. The yellow line encloses the ecoregions per the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Ecoregion
–
A map of North America's Bioregions
Ecoregion
–
The
Ötztal Alps, a
mountain range in the central
Alps of
Europe, are part of the
Central Eastern Alps, and can both be termed as ecoregions.
Ecoregion
–
A conifer forest in the
Swiss Alps (
National Park).
27.
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near colder seas, winters are typically mild to cool in low-lying locations but can be cold in inland and higher locations. All these ecoregions are highly distinctive, collectively harboring 10% of the Earths plant species, much of the woody vegetation in Mediterranean-climate regions is sclerophyll, which means hard-leaved in Greek. Sclerophyll vegetation generally has small, dark leaves covered with an outer layer to retain moisture in the dry summer months. This is equivalent to about 40% of the plant species of the United States and Canada combined, forests are often found in riparian areas, where they receive more summer water. Coniferous forests also occur, especially around the Mediterranean, pine and deciduous oak forest are widespread across California Woodland, Oak woodlands are characteristic of the Mediterranean Basin and in California. Pine woodlands are also present in the Mediterranean Basin, savanna and grassland, The California Central Valley grasslands are the largest Mediterranean grassland eco-region, although these grasslands have mostly been converted to agriculture. The remaining woodlands feature mainly oak, walnut and pine, the cork oak savanna in Portugal, known as montado, is a good example of a mediterranean savanna. Shrubland, Shrublands are dense thickets of evergreen shrubs and small trees. They are most common near the seacoast, and are adapted to wind. Northern coastal scrub and coastal scrub, also known as soft chaparral. In some places shrublands are of the vegetation type, and in other places are the result of degradation of former forest or woodland by logging or overgrazing. Fire, both natural and human-caused, has played a role in shaping the ecology of Mediterranean ecoregions. The hot, dry summers make much of the prone to fires. Many of the plants are pyrophytes, or fire-loving, adapted or even depending on fire for reproduction, recycling of nutrients, and the removal of dead or senescent vegetation. The plant communities in these areas adapted to the frequent human-caused fires, the European shrublands have also been shaped by anthropogenic fire, historically associated with transhumance herding of sheep and goats. Mediterranean ecoregions are some of the most endangered and vulnerable on the planet, media related to Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub at Wikimedia Commons National Geographic Global 200 Ecoregions, Mediterranean Forest, Woodland and Scrub. Part of National Geographics Wild World Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World mapping project, Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia FAO
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
Mediterranean forests in Salamanca, Spain
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
A Mediterranean forest, the
Upper Galilee
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
Eucalyptus forest
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
–
A mediterranean cork oak savanna, in
Alentejo region, Portugal.
28.
Biome
–
A biome /ˈbaɪoʊm/ is a community of plants and animals that have common characteristics for the environment they exist in, and can be found over a range of continents. Spanning continents, biomes are distinct biological communities that have formed in response to a shared physical climate, biome is a broader term than habitat, any biome can comprise a variety of habitats. While a biome can cover large ares, a microbiome is a mix of organisms that coexist in a space as well. For example, the microbiome is the collection of bacteria, viruses. The biotas of the Earth make up the biosphere, the term was suggested in 1916 by Clements, originally as a synonym for biotic community of Möbius. In 1935, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, the International Biological Program projects popularized the concept of biome. However, in contexts, the term biome is used in a different manner. Both includes many biomes in fact and their boundaries must therefore be drawn arbitrarily and their characterization made according to the average conditions that predominate in them. A1978 study on North American grasslands found a positive correlation between evapotranspiration in mm/yr and above-ground net primary production in g/m2/yr. These findings help explain the categories used in Holdridge’s bioclassification scheme, Holdridge uses the four axes to define 30 so-called humidity provinces, which are clearly visible in his diagram. While this scheme largely ignores soil and sun exposure, Holdridge acknowledged that these were important and his scheme can be seen as a simplification of Holdridges, more readily accessible, but missing Holdridges greater specificity. Whittaker based his approach on theoretical assertions and empirical sampling and he was in a unique position to make such a holistic assertion because he had previously compiled a review of biome classifications. Physiognomy, the apparent characteristics, outward features, or appearance of communities or species. Biome, a grouping of terrestrial ecosystems on a continent that are similar in vegetation structure, physiognomy, features of the environment. Formation, a kind of community of plants on a given continent. Biome-type, grouping of convergent biomes or formations of different continents, whittakers distinction between biome and formation can be simplified, formation is used when applied to plant communities only, while biome is used when concerned with both plants and animals. Whittakers convention of biome-type or formation-type is simply a method to categorize similar communities. Whittaker considered four main ecoclines in the terrestrial realm, changes in physiognomic complexity vary with how favorable of an environment exists
Biome
–
The distribution of vegetation types as a function of mean annual temperature and precipitation.
29.
Ecosystem
–
An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles, as ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces. Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun and it generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and they also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entities—invariably, they are subject to disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can have different characteristics simply because they contain different species. The introduction of species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. Other internal factors include disturbance, succession and the types of species present, although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate. Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes of disturbance, classifying ecosystems into ecologically homogeneous units is an important step towards effective ecosystem management, but there is no single, agreed-upon way to do this. The term ecosystem was first used in 1935 in a publication by British ecologist Arthur Tansley, Tansley devised the concept to draw attention to the importance of transfers of materials between organisms and their environment. He later refined the term, describing it as The whole system, including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment. Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates, Tansley later defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope. G. Raymond Lindeman took these ideas one step further to suggest that the flow of energy through a lake was the driver of the ecosystem. Most mineral nutrients, on the hand, are recycled within ecosystems. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, external factors, also called state factors, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem
Ecosystem
–
Coral reefs are a highly
productive marine ecosystem.
Ecosystem
–
Global oceanic and terrestrial
phototroph abundance, from September 1997 to August 2000. As an estimate of
autotroph biomass, it is only a rough indicator of primary production potential, and not an actual estimate of it. Provided by the
SeaWiFS Project,
NASA /
Goddard Space Flight Center and
ORBIMAGE.
Ecosystem
Ecosystem
30.
California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
–
The California coastal sage and chaparral, a sub-ecoregion of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, is found in southwestern California and northwestern Baja California in Mexico. California coastal sage and chaparral is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, the climate is Mediterranean, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers with fog. The plant species of the California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion are diverse, the main plant communities are Coastal sage scrub, California coastal prairie, and Northern coastal scrub. Prominent coast adjacent species include, California sagebrush and brittlebush, along with California buckwheat, some of the endemic plants to the ecoregions southern coast zone include, San Diego thornmint, San Diego ambrosia and San Diego barrel cactus. Higher up from the shoreline the slopes are covered in Chaparral shrubs, such as, chamise. Still higher are mountain conifers such as the sugar pine, ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, Coulter pine. Endemic cypress species include, the Monterey cypress, Gowen cypress, another endemic tree is the rare Torrey pine, which is only native to the coastal bluffs in Torrey Pines State Reserve near San Diego, and off the coast on Santa Rosa Island. Riparian canyon bottoms can have California sycamores, California oak woodlands are at many elevations in less xeric locations, with species such as the coast live oak. Valley oaks once covered the adjacent sheltered plains, such in the Los Angeles basin, Southern California black walnut remnant populations are on some north faces of the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Susana Mountains, and the San Jose Hills. The Channel Islands are mostly covered in coastal sage and chamise chaparral with some oak woodland including endemic and/or rare, buckwheats, oaks, seasonal wetland habitats include intermittent creeks, ponds, vernal pools, and floodplains. Wildfires are part of the fire ecology throughout the ecoregion. Habitats of this hot, dry coast must survive and revive following the regular forest fires, wildlife found here includes the Hermes copper and Quino checkerspot butterflies among the 200 butterfly species found here. Vernal pools in the ecoregion are home to Riverside fairy shrimp, the California gnatcatcher is a small bird, endemic to this coastal ecoregion, which has been protected as its habitat is now designated an Important Bird Area. Other birds found here are the endemic Nutall’s woodpecker of the oak woodland, and this attractive coastline is highly vulnerable to urban, recreational, and agricultural development and only 15% of original habitat is intact. Habitats are vulnerable to grazing, which has removed much native vegetation on the Channel Islands. Another threat ironically is fire control, which allows the amount of dry material in the forest to build up resulting eventually in massive fires. There are patches of coastal scrub in Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Joaquin Hills near Laguna Beach. Protected areas include the Torrey Pines State Reserve, the Santa Rosa Plateau Reserve, Important Bird Areas in Mexico include Isla Guadalupe and Isla Cedros, and parts of Sierra de Juárez and Sierra de San Pedro Mártir
California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
–
Chaparral and pine forests in the
Cleveland National Forest
California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
–
California coastal prairie in
Sonoma County
California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
–
Southern coastal scrub in the
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
31.
Southern California
–
Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting, the annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
Southern California
–
Southern California Images top from bottom, left to right:
San Diego Skyline,
Downtown Los Angeles,
Village of La Jolla,
Santa Monica Pier,
Surfer at Black's Beach,
Hollywood Sign,
Disneyland,
Hermosa Beach Pier
Southern California
–
San Diego Marina district
Southern California
–
Sunset in
Venice, a district in Los Angeles
Southern California
–
Three Arch Bay in Laguna
32.
Baja California
–
Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California. It has an area of 70,113 km2, or 3. 57% of the mass of Mexico and comprises the northern half of the Baja California Peninsula, north of the 28th parallel. The mainland portion of the state is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by Sonora, the U. S. State of Arizona, and the Gulf of California and its northern limit is the U. S. state of California. The state has an population of 3,165,776 much more than the sparsely populated Baja California Sur to the south. Over 75% of the lives in the capital city, Mexicali, in Ensenada. Other important cities include San Felipe, Rosarito and Tecate, additionally, there is a large immigrant population from the United States due to its proximity to San Diego and the cheaper cost of living compared to San Diego. There is also a significant population from Central America, many immigrants moved to Baja California for a better quality of life and the number of higher paying jobs in comparison to the rest of Mexico and Latin America. Baja California is the twelfth largest state by area in Mexico and its geography ranges from beaches to forests and deserts. The backbone of the state is the Sierra de Baja California, where the Picacho del Diablo and this mountain range effectively divides the weather patterns in the state. In the northwest, the weather is semi-dry and mediterranean, in the narrow center, the weather changes to be more humid due to altitude. It is in area where a few valleys can be found, such as the Valle de Guadalupe. To the east of the range, the Sonoran Desert dominates the landscape. In the south, the weather becomes drier and gives way to the Vizcaino Desert, the state is also home to numerous islands off both of its shores. In fact, the westernmost point in Mexico, the Guadalupe Island, is part of Baja California, the Coronado, Todos Santos and Cedros Islands are also on the Pacific Shore. On the Gulf of California, the biggest island is the Angel de la Guarda, separated from the peninsula by the deep, the first people came to the peninsula at least 11,000 years ago. At that time two main groups are thought to have been present on the peninsula. In the south were the Cochimí, in the north were several groups belonging to the Yuman language family, including the Kiliwa, Paipai, Kumeyaay, Cocopa, and Quechan
Baja California
–
Central Desert in Cataviña
Baja California
–
Flag
Baja California
–
Isla Partida, which is part of the
San Lorenzo Marine Archipelago National Park
Baja California
–
Sierra de San Pedro Martir, with Picacho del Diablo in the center.
33.
Channel Islands of California
–
The Channel Islands of California are a chain of eight islands located in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel in the United States of America. Five of the islands are part of Channel Islands National Park, the islands were first colonized by the Chumash and Tongva Native Americans 13,000 years ago, who were then displaced by European settlers who used the islands for fishing and agriculture. The U. S. military uses the islands as training grounds, weapons test sites, the Channel Islands and the surrounding waters house a diverse ecosystem with many endemic species and subspecies. Eight islands are split among the jurisdictions of three separate California counties, Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and Los Angeles County, the islands are divided into two groups, the northern Channel Islands and the southern Channel Islands. The four northern Islands used to be a single known as Santa Rosae. The archipelago extends for 160 miles between San Miguel Island in the north and San Clemente Island in the south, together, the islands’ land area totals 221,331 acres, or about 346 square miles. Five of the islands were made into the Channel Islands National Park in 1980, the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary encompasses the waters six nautical miles off Anacapa, Santa Cruz, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Barbara islands. Santa Catalina Island is the one of the eight islands with a significant permanent civilian settlement—the resort city of Avalon, California. Natural seepage of oil occurs at places in the Santa Barbara Channel. Tar balls or pieces of tar in small numbers are found in the kelp, Native Americans used naturally occurring tar, bitumen, for a variety of purposes which include roofing, waterproofing, paving and some ceremonial purposes. The Channel Islands at low elevations are virtually frost-free and constitute one of the few areas in the 48 contiguous US states. It snows only rarely, on mountain peaks. Separated from the California mainland throughout recent geological history, the Channel Islands provide the earliest evidence for seafaring in the Americas. It is also the site of the discovery of the earliest paleontological evidence of humans in North America, the northern Channel Islands are now known to have been settled by maritime Paleo Indian peoples at least 13,000 years ago. Archaeological sites on the island provide a unique and invaluable record of human interaction with Channel Island marine, historically, the northern islands were occupied by the island Chumash, while the southern islands were occupied by the Tongva. Author Scott ODell wrote about the peoples living on the island in his novel Island of the Blue Dolphins. Aleut hunters visited the islands to hunt otters in the early 1800s, the Aleuts purportedly clashed with the native Chumash, killing many over trading disputes. Aleut interactions with the natives were also detailed in ODells book, the Chumash and Tongva were removed from the islands in the early 19th century, taken to Spanish missions and pueblos on the adjacent mainland
Channel Islands of California
–
Channel Islands of California
Channel Islands of California
–
Beach of Santa Cruz Island
Channel Islands of California
–
Beach at San Miguel
Channel Islands of California
–
Garibaldi, Catalina Island
34.
Guadalupe Island
–
The two other Mexican island groups in the Pacific Ocean that are not on the continental shelf are Revillagigedo Islands and Rocas Alijos. The 2010 census recorded a population of 213 people on the island, Guadalupe is part of Ensenada delegación, one of the 24 delegaciones or subdivisions of Ensenada Municipality of the Mexican state of Baja California. Ensenada delegación and Chapultepec delegación together form the city of Ensenada, the postal code of Guadalupe Island is 22997. Generators provide electricity, and a military vessel brings 30,000 liters of fresh water, the number of fishermen varies annually depending on the fishing season. Ten months of the year the 30 families of the fishing cooperative Abuloneros and Langosteros of Guadalupe Island are present, additional temporary fishing camps are Campo Norte, Campo Lima and Arroyitos. An abandoned fishing community, Campo Este, is located near a cove on the eastern shore, at the southern tip, on Melpómene Cove, there is a weather station staffed by a detachment from the Mexican Ministry of the Navy. The site is called Campamento Sur, Campo Bosque was established as a temporary camp in 1999 in the cypress forest in the north. Campo Pista is located at the airport, near the center of the island. Airport Isla Guadalupe has a 1, 200-metre-long runway, at the end of the runway near threshold 5 is the wreckage of a Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar, which overshot the runway during landing. A former North American B-25J-30/32 Mitchell, BMM-3501, bomber wrecked on the end of the runway. This B-25 wreckage was removed from the island in late 2005 or early 2006 and it consists of two ancient overlapping shield volcanoes, of which the northern and higher volcano is the younger. The island measures 35 kilometres north-south and up to 9.5 kilometres east-west and it features a chain of high volcanic mountain ridges which rises to a height of 1,298 metres at its northern end. Its smaller counterpart on the end is the 975 metres El Picacho. The southern part of the island is barren, but there are fertile valleys, the coast generally consists of rocky bluffs with detached rocks fronting some of them. Most precipitation occurs over the months with strong influence of northwestern winds. Rainfall averages 133 millimetres near sea level at the south end, an estimate for the rainfall in the northern highlands is possible by way of taking Pinus radiata as an indicator, which is native to that area of the island. Other places where Pinus radiata is native, it grows best with about 750 millimetres of rainfall, the effective moisture, of course, is much greater because of fog drip. Guadalupe Island is composed of shield volcanoes which formed on a now extinct mid-oceanic ridge
Guadalupe Island
–
Southeast coast of Guadalupe Island
Guadalupe Island
–
Great white shark off Isla Guadalupe
Guadalupe Island
Guadalupe Island
–
Giant coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea)
35.
California montane chaparral and woodlands
–
The ecoregion is part of the larger California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, and belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. The regions Mediterranean climate is hot and dry in the summer and cool, the wide elevation range and characteristic climate produce a variety of natural communities, from chaparral to mixed evergreen forest to alpine tundra. Shrublands of Chamise, Manzanita species, and scrub oak tend to dominate the lower elevations of California montane chaparral and this ecoregion contains several oak species, including coast live oak, canyon live oak, interior live oak, tan oak, and Engelmann oak. It has eight endemic conifer species, a mosaic of different manzanita species and closed-cone pine forest appears at higher elevations. Bigcone Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga macrocarpa, is a resident of some of these communities. The Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer Forest plant community occurs here, mixed evergreen forest occurs from 4,500 to 9,500 feet and includes incense-cedar, sugar pine, white fir, Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, and western juniper. Higher elevations to 11,500 feet support subalpine forests of pine, lodgepole pine. The region contains many species of vertebrate, including the white-eared pocket mouse. The monarch butterfly also comes to the area during the winter months, the area includes some larger predators such as the mountain lion, bobcat, coyote, and ring-tailed cats. Approximately 30 percent of California montane chaparral and woodlands remains intact, about 70 percent has been lost due to degradation activities of humans. Montane chaparral is threatened chiefly by development, grazing, logging, conversion to vineyards and this is an ongoing threat notably in Southern California, but also in its northernmost reaches in Santa Clara County, where population pressure is most intense. State and federal fish and wildlife agencies, and environmental associations are attempting to conserve the remaining intact ecoregion, the U. S. Forest Service efforts include timber harvest conservation measures in areas with endangered tree species and high endemic and relict species plant communities. Much of the range is within the Los Padres National Forest, Angeles National Forest, mixed conifer and closed-cone pine forests have been heavily impacted by air pollution. Air quality has improved in southern areas around the Los Angeles Basin
California montane chaparral and woodlands
–
California montane chaparral and woodlands in the
Transverse Ranges.
36.
Central Coast (California)
–
The Central Coast is an area of California, United States, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Francisco, six counties make up the Central Coast, from south-to north, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz. The Central Coast is the location of the Central Coast American Viticultural Area, the Central Coast area was originally inhabited by Chumash and other Native American people since at least 10,000 BC. Many of these settlements were coastal, where the people exploited marine resources, for example, there were significant settlements near the mouth of Morro Creek and Los Osos Creek. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo visited the Central Coast, landing in Santa Barbara County in 1542, the region is known primarily for agriculture and tourism. Major crops include wine grapes, lettuce, strawberries, and artichokes, the Salinas Valley is one of the most fertile farming regions in the United States. The area is not densely populated, the largest city in the region is Oxnard in Ventura County, with a population estimated at 203,007 in 2013. University of California campuses are found in Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz, California State University, Monterey Bay, founded in 1994, uses facilities donated when Fort Ord was converted from military to civilian uses. California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo, was founded in 1901, the six counties that make up the Central Coast region had an estimated population of 2,327,344 in 2014, about 5% more than the population of New Mexico. Travel is almost entirely by private automobile, because of its position roughly halfway between the major cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, San Luis Obispo is home to Americas first motel. The major highway is U. S. Route 101, which runs north-south from Los Angeles, through most of the communities of the Central Coast. State Route 1, a smaller but much more scenic route, connects the communities, running through San Simeon, Morro Bay. Amtrak maintains train service with the Coast Starlight and Pacific Surfliner routes along the Union Pacific Railroad Coast Line that also transports freight, there are no major airports, although Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo have regional airports with commuter service. Greyhound buses serve most of the region, monterey-Salinas Transit operates bus services throughout Monterey County as far south as Big Sur on the coast and King City in the Salinas Valley. MST also offers service to San Jose Diridon Station, downtown Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz Metro Offers services within Santa Cruz County, including connections to San Jose and San Jose State and connection to MST service in Watsonville, heading south to Salinas
Central Coast (California)
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South Coast of
Santa Barbara County
Central Coast (California)
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Pismo Beach in
San Luis Obispo County
Central Coast (California)
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Sunset at
Salinas River State Beach in
Monterey County
Central Coast (California)
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Central Californian Coastline, Big Sur
37.
California Coast Ranges
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The Coast Ranges of California span 400 miles from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains, physiographically, they are a section of the larger Pacific Border province, which in turn are part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division. UNESCO has included the California Coast Ranges Biosphere Reserve in its Man, the northern end of the California Coast Ranges overlap the southern end of the Klamath Mountains for approximately 80 miles on the west. They extend southward for more than 600 miles to where the coastline turns eastward along the Santa Barbara Channel, here the southern end meets the Los Angeles Transverse Ranges, or Sierras de los Angeles. The rocks themselves that comprise the mountains are of a great variety, most of the rocks were formed during the Tertiary, Cretaceous and Jurassic periods. All of the range has been folded and faulted during several periods, the California Ranges had a high production of mercury following the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada. In the Cache Creek Basin, Cenozoic cinnabar deposits near Clear Lake are the northernmost of a group of similar deposits associated with volcanism, during 1877, these deposits hit their peak production of mercury, producing approximately 2,776 metric tons. These abandoned mines are still a source of mine waste runoff in Cache Creek, the Northern Coast Ranges are a section of the California Coast Ranges. They run parallel to the Pacific Coast from the North San Francisco Bay Area to coastal Del Norte County, the Klamath Mountains, including the Siskiyou Mountains sub-range, lie to the north and northeast. The Southern Coast Ranges lie to the south, the Northern Coast Ranges run north-south parallel to the coast. Component ranges within the Northern Coast Ranges include the Mendocino Range of western Mendocino County and the Mayacamas, Sonoma, and Vaca Mountains and they also include the King Range, which meet the sea in the Lost Coast region. The southernmost peak of the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Tamalpais, the highest point in the Northern Coast Ranges is Mount Linn, at 8,098 ft. The Northern Coast Ranges consist of two parallel belts of mountains, the Outer Northern Coast Ranges lying along the coast. They are separated by a system of valleys. The northern valley portion is drained by the Eel River and its tributaries, a series of short rivers, including the Mattole, Gualala, and Navarro rivers, drain the western slopes of the ranges. The eastern slopes of the drain into the Sacramento Valley. Clear Lake lies in the southeast portion of the range, U. S. Route 101 runs generally north-south in the valleys between the Outer and Inner Northern Coast Ranges. The seaward face of the coastal Outer Northern Coast Ranges is part of the Northern California coastal forests ecoregion, home to forests of Coast Redwood
California Coast Ranges
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Santa Lucia Range
California Coast Ranges
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Outer Northern Coast Ranges:
King Range meets the sea on the
Lost Coast.
California Coast Ranges
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Monument Peak over
Milpitas, California
38.
Transverse Ranges
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The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the end of the California Coast Ranges. They derive the name Transverse Ranges due to their east–west orientation, most of the system lies in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. Lower elevations are dominated by chaparral and scrubland, while higher elevations support large conifer forests, most of the ranges in the system are fault blocks, and were uplifted by tectonic movements during the Cenozoic Era. Most of the Transverse Ranges are bounded to the north and east by the San Andreas Fault, which separates the ranges from the California Coast Ranges, notable passes along the fault include Tejon Pass, Cajon Pass, and San Gorgonio Pass. Components of Transverse Ranges to the north of the include the Tehachapi Mountains. The western and southern boundaries are generally acknowledged to be the Pacific Ocean and various alluvial valleys, major passes not along the San Andreas Fault include Gaviota Pass, San Marcos Pass, the Conejo Grade, Newhall Pass, and Cahuenga Pass. The mountains are notable for being steep and difficult to traverse across, on its northern end, there are few passes that are sufficiently low or wide enough to accommodate significant volumes of traffic. This results in significant traffic issues throughout Southern California when a pass has to be shut due to heavy snow or construction. Occasionally, such as Santa Barbara during the 2005 La Conchita landslide, the Transverse Ranges manifest themselves as a series of roughly parallel ridges with an average height of 3, 000–8,000 feet. They begin at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County, and include the Santa Ynez Mountains that run parallel to the coast behind Santa Barbara. Also in Santa Barbara County, they include the San Rafael Mountains, the Ranges include the steep San Gabriel Mountains northeast of Los Angeles, the San Rafael Hills, Puente Hills, San Jose Hills, and Chino Hills, and the San Bernardino Mountains. The Mojave Desert and Californias low desert, including the Coachella Valley, are at the end of the ranges. The northern Channel Islands of California are also part of the Transverse Ranges, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, snow falls above 6,000 feet most winters, and above 3,000 feet every few years. It is rare for elevations above 8,000 feet to go multiple winters without snow, the tree line lies at about 11,000 feet, San Gorgonio Mountain is the only peak with an alpine environment. The Transverse Ranges have a geological history, and the rock composition of the ranges are varied. The Transverse Ranges represent a complex of tectonic forces and faulting stemming from the interaction of the Pacific Plate, the San Andreas Fault is a dextral strike-slip fault with a right step, causing the mountains. Their elevation is somewhat better understood as a consequence of this step, the crust atop the Pacific Plate south of the ranges does not easily make the turn westward as the entire plate moves northwestward, forcing pieces of the crust to compress and lift
Transverse Ranges
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Snowy
Mount Baden-Powell in the
San Gabriel Mountains
Transverse Ranges
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The Ranges rise steeply above major urban areas such as Los Angeles
Transverse Ranges
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Eastern portion of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, with the
Mojave Desert on the right and
Silverwood Lake near the boundary. The
San Andreas Fault runs straight up the middle toward the horizon.
Transverse Ranges
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Savannah-like oak woodlands are typical of the westernmost ranges; shown here is the north slope of the
Santa Ynez Mountains
39.
Peninsular Ranges
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Elevations range from 500 to 10,834 feet. Sierra San Francisco, Sierra de la Giganta, and Sierra de la Laguna in Baja California, Palomar Mountain, home to Palomar Observatory, is in the Peninsular Ranges in San Diego County, as is Viejas Mountain. The Peninsular ranges run predominantly north-south, unlike the Transverse Ranges to their north, rocks in the ranges are dominated by Mesozoic granitic rocks, derived from the same massive batholith which forms the core of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. They are part of a province known as the Salinian Block which broke off the North American Plate as the San Andreas Fault. Between this set of ranges and the Transverse Ranges is the complex Malibu Coast—Santa Monica—Hollywood fault, most of the Peninsular Ranges are in the Nearctic ecozone. Several terrestrial ecoregions cover portions of the Peninsular Ranges, on western-coast side of the southern portion of the ranges the Baja California desert ecoregion covers in the southern portion of the Peninsular Ranges in Baja California and Baja California Sur. On eastern side of northern ranges, the Sonoran Desert ecoregion covers southeastern California and northeastern Baja California as far south as the town of Loreto, Baja California Sur. On the eastern side of the Laguna Mountains in San Diego County the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is known for its profusion of Colorado Desert wildflowers. On eastern-Gulf of California side of the portion of the ranges the Gulf of California xeric scrub ecoregion covers the range in Baja California Sur. The higher portions of the Peninsular Ranges, especially the slopes, are home to coniferous. Cleveland National Forest covers much of the higher Southern California Peninsular Ranges, the vegetation includes oak woodlands and forests of Jeffrey Pine and Coulter Pine. The Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir pine-oak forests cover upper slopes of Sierra Juarez and these isolated forests, predominantly Tamarack Pine, Sugar Pine, Parry Pinyon, White Fir, California Incense Cedar, and junipers. Oak species include Coast Live Oak, Engelmann Oak, Canyon Live Oak and these higher portions of the Peninsular Ranges harbor many rare and endemic species. Southern Baja California Sur is part of the Neotropic ecozone and its flora and fauna share many affinities with southern Mexico and Central America. It includes three distinct ecoregions, the Sierra de la Laguna dry forests, Sierra de la Laguna pine-oak forests, Peninsular Ranges index Transverse Ranges List of mountain ranges
Peninsular Ranges
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Sierra San Pedro Mártir and
Devils Peak
Peninsular Ranges
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View from Inspiration Point in the
Laguna Mountains.
Chaparral in the foreground,
Anza Borrego Desert State Park on the right of the background.
40.
California interior chaparral and woodlands
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The California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion covers 24,900 square miles in an elliptical ring around the California Central Valley. It occurs on hills and mountains ranging from 300 feet to 3,000 feet and it is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Many plant and animal species in this ecoregion are adapted to periodic fire and these woodlands are varied and rich in plant life. Chaparral and oak woodlands are the most widespread plant communities in this ecoregion, the chaparral is composed of diverse shrubs and herbs. These include chamise and several species of manzanita and ceanothus, gray pine often emerges from the shrubs. Meanwhile, buckeye is extensive and Blue oak is one of the most extensive of the varieties of oak in the woodlands, scrub oak, coast live oak, canyon live oak, valley oak. The pine and cypress communities on the areas of soil within this ecoregion harbor many endemic species such as milkwort jewelflower. The main trees of this habitat are Sargent cypress and MacNab cypress with California scrub oak, over seventy species of mammals occur in this rich ecoregion. The endemic mammals include three species of kangaroo rat, some hundred species of birds occur here. Indicator species are scrub jays, acorn woodpeckers, and wrentits, about one third of the original habitat remains, especially at higher elevations. The trees of Closed-cone pine forest are adapted to open the cones, as fire regulation and suppression becomes more effective these communities cannot renew themselves. List of ecoregions in the United States Photos tagged with California interior chaparral and woodlands on flickr
California interior chaparral and woodlands
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Hillside in
Sunol Regional Wilderness, April 2004
41.
Central Valley (California)
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Californias Central Valley is a large, 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 it covers approximately 18,000 square miles, about 11% of Californias total land area. More than 7 million acres of the valley are irrigated via a system of reservoirs. The valley also has many cities, including the state capital Sacramento, as well as Redding, Stockton, Modesto, Fresno. The Central Valley watershed comprises 60,000 square miles, or over a third of California, the delta empties into the San Francisco Bay, and then ultimately flows into the Pacific. The Central Valley is commonly known to simply as the Valley. Older names include the Great Valley, a name often seen in scientific references, and Golden Empire. The Central Valley is outlined by the Cascade, Sierra Nevada, and Tehachapi mountain ranges on the east, the broad valley floor is carpeted by vast agricultural regions, and dotted with numerous population centers. While there are many large and small between these cities, these four cities act as hubs for regional commerce and transportation. About 6.5 million people live in the Central Valley today, there are 12 Metropolitan Statistical Areas and 1 Micropolitan Statistical Area in the Central Valley. Below, they are listed by MSA and μSA population, the largest city is Fresno, followed by the state capital, Sacramento. The valley is thought to have originated below sea level as an offshore area depressed by subduction of the Farallon Plate into a trench further offshore, the San Joaquin Fault is a notable seismic feature of the Central Valley. The valley was later enclosed by the uplift of the Coast Ranges, faulting moved the Coast Ranges, and a new outlet developed near what is now San Francisco Bay. The one notable exception to the valley floor is Sutter Buttes. Another significant geologic feature of the Central Valley lies hidden beneath the delta, the Stockton Arch is an upwarping of the crust beneath the valley sediments which extends southwest to northeast across the valley. However, much of the Central Valley environment has been removed or altered by human activity including the introduction of exotic plants, the oak woodlands and chaparral that fringe the valley have been categorized as the California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion. The wetlands have been the target of operations to restore areas nearly destroyed by agriculture. The dominant grass of the valley was Nassella pulchra mixed with other species, grassland flowers include California poppy, lupins, and purple owls clover which can still be seen, especially in Antelope Valley in the Tehachapi hills
Central Valley (California)
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Topography, major parts and cities of the Central Valley
Central Valley (California)
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Part of the Valley as seen from the air
Central Valley (California)
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An example of the extreme differences between the geology of the valley floor and that of the rugged hills of the Coast Ranges (Between Tracy and Patterson, CA:Interstate 5)
Central Valley (California)
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Central Valley seen from space.
42.
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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The Sierra Nevada is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Basin and Range Province. The vast majority of the lies in the state of California. The Sierra runs 400 miles north-to-south, and is approximately 70 miles across east-to-west, 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, the character of the range is shaped by its geology and ecology. More than one hundred years ago during the Nevadan orogeny. The range started to uplift four M. A. ago, the uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones. Uplift continues due to faulting caused by forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra. The Sierra Nevada has a significant history, the California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to inaccessibility, the range was not fully explored until 1912, the Sierra Nevada lies in Central and Eastern California, with a very small but historically important spur extending into Nevada. West-to-east, the Sierra Nevadas elevation increases gradually from 1,000 feet in the Central Valley to an height of about 10,500 feet at its crest only 50–75 miles to the east. The east slope forms the steep Sierra Escarpment, unlike its surroundings, the range receives a substantial amount of snowfall and precipitation due to orographic lift. The Sierra Nevada stretches from the Susan River and Fredonyer Pass in the north to Tehachapi Pass in the south and it is bounded on the west by Californias Central Valley and on the east by the Basin and Range Province. The geographical boundary between the Sierra and the Cascades is virtually indistinguishable, with the Fredonyer Pass designation being traditional, physiographically, the Sierra is a section of the Cascade-Sierra Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division. The range is drained on its western slope by the Central Valley watershed, the northern third of the western Sierra is part of the Sacramento River watershed, and the middle third is drained by the San Joaquin River. The eastern slope watershed of the Sierra is much narrower, its rivers flow out into the endorheic Great Basin of eastern California and western Nevada. Although none of the eastern rivers reach the sea, many of the streams from Mono Lake southwards are diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct which provides water to Southern California, the height of the mountains in the Sierra Nevada increases gradually from north to south. Between Fredonyer Pass and Lake Tahoe, the range from 5,000 feet to more than 9,000 feet. The crest near Lake Tahoe is roughly 9,000 feet high, farther south, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park is Mount Lyell
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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The Sierra's
Mills Creek cirque (center) is on the west side of the
Sierra Crest, south of
Mono Lake (top, blue).
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the range and the contiguous United States
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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The Sierra hosts many waterways, such as the
Tuolumne River.
Sierra Nevada (U.S.)
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Mount Tallac above
Lake Tahoe
43.
Quercus
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An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks, the common name oak also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, the second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species. Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobate margins in many species, also, the acorns contain tannic acid, as do the leaves, which helps to guard from fungi and insects. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring, in spring, a single oak tree produces both male flowers and small female flowers. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a structure known as a cupule, each acorn contains one seed and takes 6–18 months to mature. The live oaks are distinguished for being evergreen, but are not actually a distinct group, the oak tree is a flowering plant. Oaks may be divided into two genera and a number of sections, The genus Quercus is divided into the following sections, Quercus, the white oaks of Europe, Asia and North America. Styles are short, acorns mature in 6 months and taste sweet or slightly bitter, the leaves mostly lack a bristle on their lobe tips, which are usually rounded. The type species is Quercus robur, Mesobalanus, Hungarian oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia. Styles long, acorns mature in about 6 months and taste bitter, the section Mesobalanus is closely related to section Quercus and sometimes included in it. Cerris, the Turkey oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia, styles long, acorn mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the shell is hairless. Its leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Protobalanus, the live oak and its relatives, in southwest United States. Styles short, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter, the inside of the acorn shell appears woolly. Leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Lobatae, the red oaks of North America, Central America, styles long, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter
Quercus
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Oak
Quercus
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Oak at Schönderling
Quercus
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A hybrid white oak, possibly
Quercus stellata ×
Q. muhlenbergii
Quercus
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Heart of oak
beams of the frame of Saint-Girons church in
Monein, France
44.
Quercus agrifolia
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Quercus agrifolia, the California live oak, or coast live oak, is an evergreen oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It grows west of the Sierra Nevada from Mendocino County, California and it is classified in the red oak section. This species is sympatric with canyon live oak, and the two may be hard to distinguish because their spinose leaves are superficially similar. Coast live oak typically has a trunk and reaches a mature height of 10–25 meters. Some specimens may attain an age exceeding 250 years, with diameters up to three or four meters, such as those on the Filoli estate in San Mateo County. The trunk, particularly for individuals, may be highly contorted, massive. The crown is rounded and dense, especially when aged 20 to 70 years, in later life the trunk and branches are more well defined. The leaves are green, oval, often convex in shape, 2–7 cm long and 1–4 cm broad. The outer layers of leaves are designed for maximum solar absorption and these outer leaves are deemed to be small in size to more efficiently re-radiate the heat gained from solar capture. Shaded leaves are broader and thinner, having only a single layer of photosynthetic cells. The convex leaf shape may be useful for interior leaves which depend on capturing reflected light scattered in random directions from the outer canopy. The flowers are produced in spring, the male flowers are pendulous catkins 5–10 cm long. The fruit is a reddish brown acorn 2–3.5 cm long and 1–1.5 cm broad, with the basal quarter enclosed in a cupule, unusually for a red oak. There are two varieties of Quercus agrifolia, Quercus agrifolia var. agrifolia, throughout the range of the species. Leaves that are glabrous to slightly hairy on the abaxial side, hybrids with Q. kelloggii, Q. parvula var. shevei, and Q. wislizenii are known. Leaves that are tomentose abaxially, with densely interwoven hairs and it prefers granitic soils, hybrids with Q. kelloggii known. Several hybrids between coast live oak and other red oak species have been documented, hybrids with interior live oak are known in many areas in northern California. Coast live oak also hybridizes with Shreve oak, all these oak species show evidence of introgression with one another
Quercus agrifolia
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Coast live oak
Quercus agrifolia
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Coast live oak, Sonoma County
Quercus agrifolia
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Acorns and leaves
Quercus agrifolia
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Coast live oak off
California 101, central coast.
45.
Quercus berberidifolia
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Quercus berberidifolia, the California scrub oak, is a small evergreen or semi-evergreen shrubby oak in the white oak section of Quercus. It is a native of the hills of California, and is a common member of chaparral ecosystems. The solitary or paired brown acorns are 1–3 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, in cooler, more exposed areas, scrub oak is usually a small, compact shrub, but in warm or sheltered areas the plant can spread out and grow several meters high. The epithet berberidifolia means barberry-leaved, referring to the leaf margins characteristic of Q. berberidifolia as well as of several species of Berberis. Many other scrub-type oaks may be found in regions, and careful inspection is required to identify individuals of Q. berberidifolia. Quercus berberidifolia sometimes hybridizes with other species, the word chaparral is derived from the Spanish word for scrub oak, chaparro. The non-specific meaning of the term is short in stature, because most scrub vegetation is rather low growing, the term is broadly applied to all of the vegetation in chaparral communities. California chaparral and woodlands Jepson Flora Project, Quercus berberidifolia New York Times article, Oldest Scrub Oak through self cloning
Quercus berberidifolia
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Quercus berberidifolia
46.
Quercus chrysolepis
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This tree is often found near creeks and drainage swales growing in moist cool microhabitats. Its leaves are a dark green on the upper surface with prominent spines. They are often sympatric with Quercus agrifolia and several oak species. Fossil data supports a wider distribution throughout the western United States during the early Holocene period. Native Americans used the acorns of this species as a staple, after leaching of the tannins, moreover. After forest fires, canyon live oak regenerates vigorously by basal sprouting, the trunk diameter can range from 30 to 100 centimeters. The elliptical to oblong leaves are 2.5 to 8.0 centimeters in length with widths of about half that dimension, moreover, leaves are short-pointed at the tip, but rounded or blunt at base. Although the leaves appear generally flat, they may have edge margins slightly turned under, typically with spiny teeth and these leathery leaves are a glossy dark green above, with a nether surface a dull golden down, often becoming gray and nearly glabrous the second year. Bark of the live oak is of a light gray coloration. Quercus chrysolepis is found in a variety of forest communities in the southwestern United States and it is common in the mountainous regions of California with additional populations in southwestern Oregon, western Nevada, northern Baja California, Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and Chihuahua. Canyon live oak is tolerant of a variety of soil types and it is hardy to cold temperatures down to -11 °F, and will grow in neutral to moderately acidic soils with pH ranges of 4.5 to 7.5. An example of very rocky and serpentine soil tolerance is the occurrence at the Cedars of Sonoma County. Canyon live oak grows at elevations of about 500 to 1500 meters in southwestern Oregon, in Northern California, from 100 to 1400 meters, Quercus chrysolepis can be the dominant tree on steep canyon walls, especially in locations of shallow rocky soils. In areas of moderate to high rainfall, it occurs on south facing slopes, surprisingly there seems little difference in food preference by wildlife among different oak species. Extensive hybridization of Quercus chrysolepis has been documented several other sympatric oak species. The ability of Quercus chrysolepis to compete with dominant trees within its range has been analyzed from the standpoint of leaf architecture. Canyon live oak gives functional habitat for many fauna by providing perching, nesting, resting, or foraging sites for species of birds. Young Q. chrysolepis readily available browse, canyon live oak woodlands serve as excellent mountain lion habitat because of the large population of deer frequenting these areas
Quercus chrysolepis
–
Quercus chrysolepis
Quercus chrysolepis
–
The trunk bark is gray and rough.
47.
Quercus douglasii
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Quercus douglasii, known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to California, common in the Coast Ranges and foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is occasionally known as oak and iron oak. Quercus douglasii is a tree, generally 6–20 m tall. The tallest recorded specimen was found in Alameda County, at 28.7 m, the bark is light gray with many medium-sized dark cracks, from a distance, it can appear almost white. The name blue oak derives from the dark blue-green tint of its leaves, which are deciduous, 4–10 cm long, the acorns are 2–3 cm long, with a moderately sweet kernel, and mature in 6–7 months from pollination. Quercus douglasii prefers dry soil and plenty of sunlight and it is the most drought tolerant of Californias deciduous oaks. Quercus douglasii often co-habitates with gray pine, and is found with interior live oak, valley oak, Oregon white oak, canyon live oak. Natural hybrids between Q. douglasii and the related shrub live oak, Q. lobata, and Q. garryana often occur where the species grow together in the same area, individual trees over 500 years old have been recorded, although most are less than 300 years old. Recent research has found several unlogged stands of oak woodlands. Quercus douglasii is not susceptible to the disease known as sudden oak death. Ancient Blue Oak Woodlands of California
Quercus douglasii
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Quercus douglasii blue oak
Quercus douglasii
Quercus douglasii
–
Leaves and acorn
48.
Quercus wislizeni
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It was named for its collector, Friedrich Adolph Wislizenus. It is a shrub or tree growing to 22 meters tall. The dark-green leaves ─ appearing grayish from a distance ─ are usually small, 2–5 cm long, thick, the male flowers are on catkins, the female flowers in leaf axils. The acorns are 1–2 cm long, and mature the second season after flowering, although originally published by Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle as wislizeni, some sources, e. g. Jensen in Flora of North America, mistakenly spelled the specific epithet wislizenii. Correct spelling is with one i, per ICN article 60C.2, Wislizenus specimen was thought by de Candolle to have been collected in Chihuahua, Mexico. However, German-born American botanist Georg Engelmann later corrected the location to the American fork of the Sacramento River near Auburn, California physician and botanist Albert Kellogg described an oak in an 1855 publication as Quercus arcoglandis, apparently the same species as Q. wislizeni. This clearly predates French-Swiss botanist de Candolles 1864 name, and if confirmed to be this same taxon would have priority, more investigation is needed to resolve this taxonomic conflict. Currently there are two recognized varieties of interior live oak, Q. wislizeni A. DC. var. wislizeni Q. wislizeni A. DC. var. frutescens Engelm, the interior live oak is classified as a red oak. Q. wislizeni hybridizes with California black oak, all California red oaks show evidence of introgression and/or hybridization with one another. A common alliant tree is gray pine, michael Hogan California Buckeye, Aesculus californica, GlobalTwitcher. com, N. Stromberg ed
Quercus wislizeni
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Interior live oak
49.
Artemisia (genus)
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Artemisia /ˌɑːrtᵻˈmiːziə/ is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 and 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. Common names for species in the genus include mugwort, wormwood. Artemisia comprises hardy herbaceous plants and shrubs, which are known for the chemical constituents in their essential oils. Artemisia species grow in climates of both hemispheres, usually in dry or semiarid habitats. Notable species include A. vulgaris, A. tridentata, A. annua, A. absinthium, A. dracunculus, the leaves of many species are covered with white hairs. Most species have strong aromas and bitter tastes from terpenoids and sesquiterpene lactones, which discourage herbivory, Artemisia species are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species. Occasionally, some of the species are called sages, causing confusion with the Salvia sages in the family Lamiaceae, the name artemisia ultimately derives from the Greek goddess Artemis, the namesake of Greek Queens Artemisia I and II. A more specific reference may be to Artemisia II of Caria, the aromatic leaves of some species are used for flavouring. Most species have a bitter taste. A. dracunculus is widely used as a herb, particularly important in French cuisine. Artemisia absinthium was used to repel fleas and moths, and in brewing, the aperitif vermouth is a wine flavored with aromatic herbs, but originally with wormwood. The highly potent spirits absinthe and Malört also contain wormwood, Artemisia arborescens is a very bitter herb indigenous to the Middle East used in tea, usually with mint. A few species are grown as ornamental plants, the ones used for clipped bordering. All grow best in free-draining sandy soil, unfertilized, and in full sun, Artemisia stelleriana is known as Dusty Miller, but several other species bear that name, including Jacobaea maritima, Silene coronaria, and Centaurea cineraria. Artemisinin and derivatives are a group of compounds with the most rapid action of all current drugs used to treat malaria, treatments containing an artemisinin derivative are now standard treatment worldwide for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Artemisia cina and other Old World species are the source of the antihelminthic drug, Chinese mugwort, Artemisia argyi, is used in the traditional Chinese medicine. Artemisia has been mentioned and used in culture for centuries. A few examples are, Artemisia herba-alba is thought to be the plant translated as wormwood in English language versions of the Bible, Wormwood is mentioned seven times in the Jewish Bible, always with the implication of bitterness
Artemisia (genus)
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Artemisia
Artemisia (genus)
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Artemisia pycnocephala (beach sagewort) flowers
Artemisia (genus)
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Artemisia abrotanum
Artemisia (genus)
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Artemisia annua
