Ecology of California

"Natural history of California" redirects here. For the book, A Natural History of California, see Allan A. Schoenherr.
This article is about natural biological communities. For a description of human habitat adjustments, see Environment of California.
Mojave Desert in Joshua Tree National Park

The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions (such as the Mojave Desert), Mediterranean ecoregions (such as the Central Valley), forested mountains (such as the Sierra Nevada), and coastal forests.[1]

Different authorities define the boundaries of ecoregions somewhat differently: this article follows the definitions of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

  1. ^ Ecological Regions of North America: Toward a Common Perspective. Commission for Environmental Cooperation. 1997. ISBN 2-922305-18-X.