Big Sur - Flora and Fauna

Flora and Fauna

The many climates of Big Sur result in an astonishing biodiversity, including many rare and endangered species such as the wild orchid Piperia yadonii, which has a highly restricted range of a total population of few individuals. Arid, dusty chaparral-covered hills exist within easy walking distance of lush riparian woodland. The mountains trap most of the moisture out of the clouds; fog in summer, rain and snow in winter. This creates a favorable environment for coniferous forests, including the southernmost habitat of the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), which grows only on lower coastal slopes that are routinely fogged in at night. Many inaccessible redwood forests here were never logged, and in 2008 scientist J. Michael Fay published a map of these old growth redwoods as a result of his transect of the entire redwood range. In areas where they were logged, the redwoods, aggressive regenerators, have grown back extensively since logging ceased in the early twentieth century. The rare Santa Lucia fir (Abies bracteata), as its name suggests, is found only in the Santa Lucia mountains. A common "foreign" species is the Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), which was uncommon in Big Sur until the late 19th century, when many homeowners began to plant it as a windbreak. There are many broadleaved trees as well, such as the tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia), and California Bay Laurel (Umbellularia californica). In the rain shadow, the forests disappear and the vegetation becomes open oak woodland, then transitions into the more familiar fire-tolerant California chaparral scrub.

Numerous fauna are found in the Big Sur region. Among amphibians the California Giant Salamander (Dicamptodon ensatus) is found here, which point marks the southern extent of its range. In 1997, the Ventana Wildlife Society began releasing captive-bred California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) in Big Sur, and a nest was discovered in a redwood tree in 2006. This population has been successful in part because a significant portion of its diet, carcasses of large sea creatures that have washed ashore, are unlikely to be contaminated with lead. Lead poisoning is an important cause of mortality in condors, and usually occurs when a bird consumes the remains of a game animal that had been hunted and killed with lead bullets or shot.