Transcript Chaparral - Mercer Island School District

Chaparral
Josh Omdal
Tabitha Plummer
Talia Schatzman
Location
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Coastal Regions of Australia (Western and Southern)
Coastal Regions of the Mediterranean Sea - Europe,
North Africa, Asia Minor
North America - Coast of California
South America - Coast of Chile
South African Cape Region
Features
 Characterized
by its infrequent fires, with
intervals ranging between 10–15 years to
over a hundred years
 Plants grow as woody shrubs with hard
and small leaves; (non-deciduous); and
are drought tolerant
 Terrain examples are flat plains, rocky hills
and mountain slopes
Climate
 Chaparrals
are mostly hot and dry in the
summer and rainy in the winter
 Temperatures range from about 30-100
degrees Fahrenheit
 Receives low amounts of precipitation,
usually between 10-40 inches of
precipitation annually
Temperature
Precipitation
Plant Adaptation
 Gambel
Oak (a small tree/large shrub)
has adapted to the chaparral
environment by changing its leaf size and
tree height to fit the temperature and
elevation of a place. It can live in high
altitudes like Colorado and low altitudes
such as Kansas and Oklahoma.
Animal Adaptation
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Kangaroo rats do not drink, or eat juicy food, but
instead conserve their metabolic water by
producing little urine, not sweating or panting, and
having a lot of hairs in the nasal passages to keep
moisture from escaping in the breath. They eat
seeds and take dust baths in the dirt to keep their
skin and fur in good condition. Since this leaves no
way of self-cooling the body in hot weather,
kangaroo rats keep cool underground when it's
hot. [Metabolic water is created in all animals and
plants when they use carbohydrates and oxygen
to produce energy, water, and carbon dioxide.
Chaparral Activities
Outdoor activities include, but are not
limited to:
 Camping
 Hiking
 Hunting
Unfortunately Unique
 The
chaparral’s most unique feature is
also its most dangerous! Chaparrals are
highly susceptible to fires, due to their dry
nature. As new areas are populated, the
frequency of wildfires can increase due to
human mistakes. For example, the U.S.
Forest Service has observed that fire
frequency in the California chaparral has
increased from once every twenty years
to once every sixteen years.
Environmental Issues
 Chaparral,
also called coastal sage scrub,
is threatened by the habitat loss caused
by urban and suburban expansion. This is
particularly true in California, where the
coastal areas that contain the biome are
being overdeveloped. The previously
mentioned wildfires also contribute to
herbal loss.
Works Cited
 http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/chaparral.ht
ml
 http://bioexpedition.com/chaparral-biome/
 http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/chaparral.htm
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaparral