conditions.
Low tide reveals diverse inter-tidal life.
Today, drought-tolerant plants still thrive on arid slopes, moisture-loving species grow along creeks and rivers, and shade-seeking plants retreat to the deep canyons and ravines. To categorize these patterns, botanists devised the concept of plant communities. A plant community is a group of species that grow together in a particular environment. Although it’s possible to break these down into more detailed divisions, following is a basic breakdown of Big Sur’s primary plant communities and their resident animals:
Coastal Scrub
Coastal scrub communities extend along the entire California coast and are divided into two major types: northern coastal scrub and southern coastal scrub. Although Point Sur is considered the loose boundary between the two types, northern and southern species intermingle along the Big Sur coast.
Common coastal shrubs include coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), California lilac (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus), California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica), and poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum). Headlands and bluffs feature such fragrant shrubs and herbs as California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), black sage (Salvia mellifera), hedge nettle (Stachys bullata), California mugwort (Artemisia douglasiana), and yerba buena (Satureia douglasii). Spring welcomes colorful purple, orange, and yellow blossoms from species such as silver and yellow bush lupine (Lupinus albifrons and arboreus), sticky monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus), seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus), and seaside wooly sunflower (Eriophyllum staechadifolium). Trees in this community are shrub-like, and few exceed 10 feet in height. California bay (Umbellularia californica) and coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) nestle in ravines, while dense clusters of willows (mostly Salix coulteri) huddle near water.
The coastal bluffs and low rolling hillsides endure the constant assault of wind and salt spray, which sculpt and prune the plants to grow low and rounded. These species favor areas of heavy fog, average precipitation, abundant sunlight, and mild year-round temperatures. In Big Sur, northern plants thrive in moist locations, while southern species are more abundant in arid locations. When fire burns mature stands of coastal scrub, lush herbs and nutritious new growth thrive, providing prime foraging and nesting habitat to a greater number of animals.
Seeds, berries, roots, flowers, and young seedlings provide excellent food sources for herbivores, while woody plants provide nesting material. Omnivores and predators use the abundant scrub as cover from which to hunt, while prey species such as rodents, snakes, and small birds use it to hide from the former. Resident species include:
MAMMALS Mule deer, coyote, bobcat, gray fox, brush rabbit, black-tailed hare, California ground squirrel, Botta’s pocket gopher, California meadow mouse, brush mouse, pinyon mouse, Merriam’s chipmunk, long-tailed weasel, striped skunk, and dusky-footed woodrat.
BIRDS California condor, red-tailed hawk, white-tailed kite, California quail, western scrub jay, wrentit, California thrasher, song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, bushtits, rufous-sided and California towhees, Anna’s hummingbird, and western meadowlark.
REPTILES Western fence lizard, alligator lizard, western skink, gopher snake, California mountain king snake, western terrestrial garter snake, and western rattlesnake.
New growth of this native pine appears purple as new cones form the next generation of Monterey pines.
Chaparral
Comprising dense thickets of hardwood shrubs with stiff evergreen leaves, chaparral is unquestionably the dominant plant community in Big Sur, particularly in the Ventana and Silver Peak Wildernesses.
The predominant species of this fire-loving vegetation type is chamise, or greasewood (Adenostoma fasciculatum). This member of the rose family features a tough, woody stem, wiry branches, and bundles of needlelike evergreen leaves. It is named for its oily wood, which emits a pungent odor when brushed against. This brush species is a favorite perch for ticks, which wait to hitchhike on unsuspecting passersby.
The majority of chaparral in the Santa Lucias can be divided into two types: chamise chaparral and mixed chaparral. Chamise can grow in pure stands, while other plants grow in association with chamise to form mixed chaparral, where species such as ceanothus and manzanita dominate. The community includes manzanita species (Arctostaphylos spp.), buck brush (Ceanothus cuneatus), wartleaf (Ceanothus papillosus), California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica), monkeyflower (Mimulus bifidus), California yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum), poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), and Our Lord’s candle (Yucca whipplei).
Chaparral carpets the hottest, driest slopes, where summer temperatures can soar above 100°F. When lightning strikes, fire spreads quickly through mature chaparral stands. The volatile oils in some chaparral shrubs make this one of the most fire-adapted plant communities in the world. Historically, in the Santa Lucia Range, fire ravages chaparral slopes once every 10 to 40 years. The community provides critical stabilizing cover on steep, rocky slopes. When fire rips through, the slopes are left barren and unstable, resulting in massive floods and landslides when heavy winter storms strike.
Resident animal species include:
MAMMALS Mountain lion, coyote, gray fox, bobcat, mule deer, spotted skunk, ringtail, brush rabbit, California ground squirrel, Santa Cruz kangaroo rat, desert woodrat, California mice, deer mice, brush mice, Merriam’s chipmunk, pallid bat, and Brazilian free-tailed bat.
BIRDS Turkey vulture, golden eagle, red-tailed hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, California quail, mountain quail, Anna’s hummingbird, wrentit, California thrasher, rufous-sided and California towhee, blue-gray gnatcatcher, Bewick’s wren, bushtit, black swifts, white-throated swifts, and barn, violet-green, and cliff swallows.
REPTILES Western fence lizard, sagebrush lizard, western whiptail, coast horned lizard, garter snake, gopher snake, striped racer, western rattlesnake, and common kingsnake.
Coast redwoods show signs of vigorous regrowth after the 1999 Kirk Complex Fires in the narrow ravines of Hare Creek Canyon.
Redwood Forests
California is blessed with Earth’s largest, oldest, and tallest living organisms. The largest tree in volume, the giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), lords over the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. The world’s oldest tree, the bristlecone pine (Pinus aristata), perches along the flanks of the White Mountains. The tallest living organism, the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), grows along the California coast, making its southern home in the Santa Lucia Range.
Redwood forests form a narrow belt along the coast from central California to southern Oregon. They are prized for their longevity (1000 years or more) and height (stretching some 250 to 300 feet above the forest floor). The tallest trees and healthiest groves rise farther north at Redwood National Park. Big Sur represents the redwood’s southern stronghold, which peters out near Salmon Creek in southern Big Sur, close to the coastal California fog belt. As redwoods approach their southern limit, the trees are noticeably diminished in size.
In its warmer, drier southern range, this moisture-loving species is restricted to cool, damp valleys, canyons, ravines, and gullies. The fossil record proves that 50 million years ago redwoods were widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including Greenland, Asia, and Europe. As the climate changed, so did the species’ range.
Although
