Chaparral Biome

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Chaparral Biome
Kelsey Ward Cara Pfund
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Location

• Clustered around the 30 degree
• North or South Latitude
• West coast of the United States
• West coast of South America
• Cape Town area, South Africa
• Western tip of Australia
• Coastal areas of the Mediterranean

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Animal Life

• Small
• Nocturnal
• Adapted to desert-like climates
• Adapted to hot, dry weather
• Bezoar Goat, Aardwolf, Black-tailed jackrabbit,
  Cactus Wren, Golden Jackal, Grey Fox, Island Grey
  Fox, Puma, San Joachim Kit Fox, Spotted Skunk,
  mule deer, alligator lizards, horned toads,
  praying mantis, honey bee and ladybugs

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Plant Life

• General description of plants
• Drought and fire resistant
• Adapted to poor soil conditions
• Leaves are small, hard, and can store moisture
• Many have thorns and thick bark
• Tallest trees are 10 feet tall
• Trees grow close together
• Shrubs are common ground cover
• Usually no colorful plants
• Blue Oak, Coyote Brush, Common Sagebrush, Fairy
  Duster, French Broom, King Protea, Lebanon Cedar,
  Manzanita, Mountain Mahogany, Saltmarsh Bird's
  Beak, Olive Tree, Torrey Pine.

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Climate Landscape

• Climate varies greatly throughout the year.
• Temperatures can reach over 100 degrees
  Fahrenheit
• In the winter, temperatures can drop below
  freezing and hard frost can hit.
• Rainy season during late fall and early spring
• Peak rain occurs in February
• Rain stops in May
• During the summer, high atmospheric temperatures
  stop rain clouds from forming above land.
• Nutrient poor soil

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Human Impact

• Usually formed when humans destroy forests and
  ruin soil
• Sometimes formed by overgrazing of animals
• Forests cannot grow so little nutrients are put
  into soil
• Soil becomes thin
• Erosion in very common

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Human Impact- Cork Trees

• Cork oak has thick bark to protect from fires
  common with hot, dry summers.

unharvested cork oak (Quercus suber)
Stripped tree. Bark will be harvested again in
ten years.
Worker harvesting cork
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Endangered Species

• San Diego Banded Gecko
• Move slowly across the ground at night, licking
  the ground for chemical cues to find food
  (beetles and spiders)
• Only found in Southern CA, nowhere else in the
  world.
• Species decline caused by explosive urban
• development.
• Gecko has very specific demands requires
  specific habitat.

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Unique Characteristics

• Smallest biome
• Supports 150 to 200 species of butterflies
• Southern California part of biome has the highest
  species richness of native bees in the United
  States
• Most chaparral areas formed where humans once
  destroyed forests and ruined soil. Because these
  forests could not regrow in the nutrient poor
  soil, chaparral plants (shrubs) took over.