CHAMISE CHAPARRAL
OAK WOODLANDS
COASTAL SAGE SCRUB



Historical State

The ecoregion that will be further discussed is the California coastal sage, chaparral, and woodlands.
            This ecoregion is found in California and Baja California and has a Mediterranean climate—which means it has cold winters and dry, hot summers. It mostly consists of open low mountain or foothills, but there are some areas of plain. This landscape is very diverse, both in species and habitats. Some of the habitats it includes are montane conifer forests, torrey pine woodlands, cypress woodlands, southern walnut woodlands, oak woodlands, riparian woodlands, chamise chaparral, inland and coastal sage scrub, grasslands, vernal pools, and freshwater and salt marshes.  Although there are a lot of different habitats on this landscape, this ecoregion got its name because coastal sage scrub, chamise chaparral, and oak woodlands dominate the landscape. All three of these habitats are interconnected with one another, which is why they are seen as one ecoregion.
            This ecoregion is home to many native and non-native species of flora and fauna. Unfortunately a lot of it is facing extinction. This ecoregion was once massive, and was home to way more plants and animals. Today, a lot of this ecoregion is seen in fragments or remnant patches and is now home to many endangered species. Much of this region is used to graze domestic livestock. This ecoregion has undergone a lot of geographical changes due to shifts in the tectonic plates, but humans have also impacted the new geography of the ecoregion. As a result, some of the habitats in this ecoregion have either been greatly reduced or disappeared. 


The three dominant habitats in this ecoregion

Coastal Sage Scrub:
-Dry rocky and gravelly slopes of the Southern California coast
-It has species diversity and endemism   
-Is now a rare habitat
-Occurs in coastal terraces and foothills below 1,000 meters; usually occurs in lower slopes than chaparral—about 3000ft below
-It is intercepted by chamise chaparral, oak woodlands, and salt marsh
-It is characterized by various low, aromatic and drought-deciduous shrublands; so it largely sheds leaves during the summer
-Has a fire dependent community
-Primarily active during the cool, wet winters

Chamise Chaparral:
-Dry slopes and ridges below the Yellow Pine forest
-Occur in higher elevations, but it can also be found near the coast in areas with deeper soils and increased moisture.
-Not as active during the winter
-It has some summer drought-tolerant plants with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves
-It is fire-prone
-Some of the dominate plants are: Chamizo, Manzanito, and Buckthorn


Oak Woodlands:
-Valleys of interior southern California form Los Angeles County to Mexico (Baja California)
-Is widespread at lower elevations, but it also occurs in high elevations, in foothills, and around inland valleys
-Dominant trees are oaks but it also has other coniferous trees, grasses, herbs, and native plants
-It has trees as tall as about 5000ft
-The most dominate oak is the coast live oak
-Out of the three this is the one that has visibly been more reduced.
-Vernal pools sometimes surround oak savannas and grasslands




CALIFORNIA COASTAL SAGE AND CHAPARRAL


Human Impact
The human impact on this ecoregion has been bad. Due to urbanization and agriculture much of this ecoregion has been lost. As of today, only 15% of the region is intact. But most of the habitats are now confined to remnant patches.

Urbanization threat:

A vast majority of this ecosystem has been lost due to housing, golf courses, roads, orchards, and other forms of development. Many of the remaining habitats are surrounded by development; this is especially the case near the coast. Many of the species that are located in theses habitats are forced to live in a hostile environment since humans and non-native species frequently invade their homes. Native species are threatened by the alien species introduced by humans. Humans also affect this ecoregion because they cause fires, pollution, and because of dumping. Urbanization affects the coastal sage, chaparral, and woodlands because humans pollute the environment and this results in the death of many animals and plants. Smog, which is a type of pollution, damages the growth and current existence of species because it contaminates the air.

Agriculture:
Humans have used this ecoregion’s rich soil for agriculture and grazing. As a result of agriculture humans have eliminated the ecosystems natural element of fire. Humans have suppressed fires and this has caused senescent vegetation. The suppression of fire is not a good thing because fire is a natural element in this ecosystem. Without fire, the plants can’t die and resprout new life. But humans must suppress fire because fire can damage their crops and harm their livestock. Grazing has also had a negative effect on the lifestyle of the species in this ecoregion. Especially on Oak woodlands because the cattle don’t allow them to produce saplings since they tear them apart. Grazing has also had a major impact on the coastal sage scrubs.


Both of these elements have caused the endangerment of these habitats because urban development and agriculture require plowing—which forces the removal of these habitats. With both of these elements comes the introduction of non-native species. Non-native species pose a threat to the life of native plants and animals because they tend to be the greatest source of death of native species. These species are not taken care of and are well on their way to extinction. Humans have led the destruction of this ecoregion, and there are no signs of this problem ending soon.

http://ucanr.org/repository/CAO/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v064n02p63&fulltext=yes


Future of the ecosystem

For humans, these habitats provide housing, entertainment, food, and life but they fail to acknowledge the problem they have caused. Humans have created the extinction of this ecosystem and with continued agriculture and development the future of this ecoregion does not look good.

As a result there have been many attempts to conserve certain parts of this ecoregion. There are existing laws that attempt to protect the habitats but they only offer minimal protection. Some example of existing laws are:
      1)    The Natural Communities Conservation Planning Program (NCCP) of 1991—this program restricts the destruction of some coastal sage scrub
      2)    The Endangered Species Act—this creates restrictions on the destruction of habitats of extant birds
      3)    The Nature Conservancy—this tries to restore native habitats

In Mexico, there are also some parts that are carefully monitored because they provide homes to endangered birds and other animals.
Also, the Oaks 2040 survey estimated that by 2040 California woodlands would be seriously threatened.

To raise awareness of poorly conserved ecoregion, species are added to the Endangered Species Act, but many of them are ignored and not given recognition. Like stated above, existing laws only provide minimal protection. Urbanization continues to exterminate species and their habitats. Studies suggest that the few remaining areas will lose it’s native vertebrate species, and their habitats, within a few decades.
http://ucanr.org/repository/CAO/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v049n06p23&fulltext=yes


What can de done?

To protect these areas current laws need to be made. The preexisting laws are not taken seriously because they do not contain any major consequences; in order for people to pay closer attention to this situation new laws need to be made with serious consequences. There also has to be strict restrictions on what areas development is no allowed. The state needs to protect this ecoregion because it is vital to some animals—and some parts are even vital to humans. The coastal sage scrub for example, is an important habitat for humans because sage scrub recycles carbon, filters our water, and replenishes our oxygen.
We can also help this ecoregion by removing all the non-native species from there. Removing all the non-native species will help because non-native species often kill native species. After removing all non-native species we can replant native flora to help them spread faster. We can help the native fauna by restoring their habitat. By restoring their habitat, they will have a clean environment to roam in.
Unfortunately for some species it is too late, because their habitat has been reduced to remnant patches, and there is no way they can survive there. Pollution has also made some regions uninhabitable, because of the smog produced by urbanization.
Overall, the most important thing that can be done to protect this ecoregion is too just make people aware of the amounts of species that are endangered.  Humans need to set a balance and boundaries between where and where not they can develop and set up agriculture.








References
-caflora.net/botanicalnames/plantcommunities.html

-eoearth.org/article/California_coastal_sage_and_chaparral

-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastal_sage_scrub

-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_chaparral_and_woodlands

-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral

-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_woodland

-jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2442330.pdf?acceptTC=true

-mountainstrust.org/DOCS/ChaparralPlantandAniamalCommunitites.pdf

-nativeseednetwork.org/ecodetail?region6

-worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/na1203