When removing political and international borders, the biogeographic and physiographic continuity of the ecosystem mosaic between southern California and Baja California is obvious. Unfortunately, political boundaries are real obstacles to biological connectivity, as well as to research and conservation. This is especially stark along the US-Mexico borderlands, but California’s historic habitats persist in fragility, and … More Living Landscapes: California to Baja Biogeographic Connectivity

Within the oldest, tallest, and most isolated individuals among California’s totemic and scarce stands of old growth Coast redwood forest (Sequoia sempervirens), a shrouded and complex island ecosystem is supported high up in the monumental architecture of the inner canopy. Arboreal platform ecosystems structured and bioengineered by epiphytic plants, and buoyed by immense branching and … More Biogeography of California’s Old Growth Canopy Mat Ecosystems

California’s coastal prairies form a fragile and patchy network of long-lived, low profile, species-rich herbaceous ecosystems unique to the climate, geology and geography of California’s coastal regions. A steadfast and dominant biological component of the Pleistocene, coastal prairies harbor keystone perennial grass species, along with a multitude of annual and perennial forbs and graminoids. Herbaceous … More California’s Coastal Prairies