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Southern California Mountains

Ecoregion in CA

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Similar to other ecoregions in central and southern California, the Southern California Mountains have a Mediterranean climate of hot dry summers and moist cool winters. Although Mediterranean types of vegetation such as chaparral and oak woodlands predominate in this region, the elevations are considerably higher, the summers are slightly cooler, and precipitation amounts are greater than in adjacent ecoregions, resulting in denser vegetation and some large areas of coniferous woodlands. In parts of the Transverse Range, a general slope effect causes distinct ecological differences. The south-facing slopes typically have higher precipitation (30-40 inches) compared to many of the north slopes of the range (15-20 inches), but high evaporation rates on the south contribute to a cover of chaparral. On the north side of parts of the ecoregion, lower evaporation, lower annual temperatures, and slower snow melt allows for a coniferous forest that blends into desert montane habitats as it approaches the Mojave Desert ecoregion boundary. Woodland species such as Jeffrey, Coulter, and Ponderosa pines occur, along with sugar pine, white fir, bigcone Douglas-fir, and, at highest elevations, some lodgepole and limber pines. Severe erosion problems are common where the vegetation cover has been destroyed by fire or overgrazing. Large portions of the region are National Forest public land.

— EPA

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