BIO 114 Final Sean Ryan

Coastal Scrub

Dominates coast from Oregon to Baja California, 2.5% of California, soft-stemmed 1-2m tall

deciduous

A plant that sheds its leaves during a particular season

Types of Coastal Scrub

Northern, Southern (where we are), Southern Semidesert, Sea Bluff

Southern Coastal scrub

-Mostly from San Francisco Bay area southward

-Sometimes intergrading with northern coastal scrub from San Luis Obispo County northward

-Occupies dry areas, often aromatic

-Shallow soils that generally hold little moisture in summer

-has drought deciduous plants, mostly flower in spring but can flower in summer/autumn

Dominated by salvia and artemesia sages

Mediterranean Climate

Western Cali, Mediterranean sea, South Africa, Southwest Australia

Oaks

-500 species all ver the world

-Acorn: single seed, indehiscent

-wind pollenated, catkins (inflorescence)

-some are over 1000 years old

-extremely dense and valuable wood

-Cali has 21 native species (10 tree, 11 shrub, mostly endemic), 34 total

Oak woodlands

-Covers 10% of Cali

-Dominated by trees 15-70 ft tall

Acorn diet

-Once was 3/4 of Native diet

-Crushed with mortars

-18% fat, 6% protein, 68% carbs

-High vitamin A and C

Oaks are dying

-Increased herbivore predation

-Seedlings eaten by cattle/trampled

-Increased competition with non-native grasses

-Climate change

Seedless vascular plants

Horsetails, ferns, lycophytes

Sorus

cluster of sporangia on the underside of a fern frond

Sporangia

multicellular organs that produce haploid spores

gametophyte

Haploid, or gamete-producing, phase of a fern

Gymnosperms

Came after seedless plants but before angiosperms

-Cycads, Gnetophytes, Conifers, and Ginkgo

-make exposed seeds

Cycads

Gymnosperms that grow in the tropics

-All endangered

-All dioecious

-large cones (strobili)

-Beetle pollination

Ginkgo

a gymnosperm with fan-shaped leaves, dioecious

Conifers

Most abundant gymnosperm, has tallest, oldest, and biggest trees in the world

Pine family

• 11 genera, 232 species

• Mostly in the Northern Hemisphere

• 5 genera, 33 species in California

• Many important forest trees

Pinus spp

Evergreen, has needles in fascicles

Pine reproduction

• mostly monoecious

• male cones form gametophytes - pollen grains - sperm

• female pine cones form ovules - megaspore - gametophyte - egg

Pine cones

Modified stem with leaves and branches

-cone scale is a modified branch

-cone bract is a modified leaf

Female pine cones

Bigger than male cones, mature in 2 years, cone scales persistent and woody

Pine seeds

2 leaves per scale

Oldest tree

bristlecone pine (5064 years old)

Tallest tree

coast redwood (115.72m)

Coast redwood

Cali state tree

-Most commercially available softwood

-Tallest trees on earth

-Occupy fog belt

-Live below 2500 feet

2 California Redwoods

Giant sequoia and coastal redwood

Chaparral communities

Covers 9% of California

-Occurs from coast to high elevations of interior mountains

-Often have evergreen shrubs

-Mature chaparral lacks an herbacious understory

-Very fire prone but fires cause regeneration and are important for many chaparral species

Chaparral plant characteristics

-Thick cuticle for water resistance

-Leaves dont wilt during drought

Chaparral soil characteristics

-Low in nutrients

-Rocky or sandy

Lignotubers

Woody underground stems that contain dormant buds from which new growth can occur after a fire

Grasslands

Cover 13% of california

-valleys are too dry for grasslands but can occur anywhere with a little more moisture

Grass Vegetative Characteristics

- Herbaceous

-Linear, simple leaves with parallel venation

-Alternate distichous leaf arrangement

-Base of each leaf forms a sheath that wraps around the stem

-Stems (culms) are hollow between solid nodes

-Many species make rhizomes

Distichous leaf arrangement

Leaf arrangement is opposite from each other

Grass flowers

-Wind pollinated

-Have 2 bracts and a flower

Grass bracts

lemma and palea

Lodicules

Scale-like structures in a grass flower that swell and force open the surrounding structures to facilitate pollination.

Awn

Bristle on the end of a grass flower

Grass fruit

bran = pericarp + seed coat

germ = embryo

Grassland grazing

-Amount of California grassland habitat left is 36%

-1% is native

Native grasses

perennial bunch grasses like stipa pulchra

Vernal pools

pools that form in spring then dry up, as they dry they cause zonation of different species where water was available