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Northern Coastal Scrub

Description

Among the many California shrub vegetation types, “coastal scrub” is appreciated for its delightful fragrances and intricate blooms that characterize the coastal experience. It is sometimes referred to as soft chaparral because of its flexible stems and foliage, herbaceous understory, intergradation with coastal prairie, and smoother appearance in the landscape. This contrasts to the stiff, leathery, and rough characteristics of the “hard” chaparral types. Ecologists generally recognize northern and southern divisions of coastal scrub corresponding mainly to the shift from cooler-moister to warmer-drier climates, and in species composition. The northern division generally corresponds to the Franciscan, Lucian, and Diablan divisions of Axelrod’s “Northern coastal sage,” which transitions to the Venturan division within the “southern coastal sage.” In Central California the northern and southern types commonly occur adjacent to each other at edaphic and microclimatic ecotones in the Central Coast Ranges.

Munz and Keck popularized the term “northern coastal scrub.” They described dense stands of shrubs and forbs, often mixed with extensive areas of coastal prairie, situated between coastal strand and redwood forest along the California coast north of Big Sur. Northern coastal scrub occurs farther south and more broadly than Munz and Keck acknowledged—in discontinuous bands along the coastal terraces and the low to middle slopes of the outer Coast Ranges, from Northern Santa Barbara County north to Southern Oregon, including the coastal islands from the Northern Santa Barbara Channel north to the San Francisco Bay. Within these same latitudes inland from the coast, it occurs on the lower slopes and valley bottoms of the middle and inner Coast Ranges. It also extends inland (with less diversity) from the Golden Gate through the Coast Ranges on the hillside margins of Suisun Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and up the Sierra Nevada Foothills to more than 300 m elevation. It has been observed in scattered stands in the foothills of Placer, El Dorado, Amador, and Calaveras counties. This distribution follows the “blankets” and “corridors” of marine climate influence (zones of coastal fog or cool moist marine air) that press inland from the coast with the prevailing winds.

Potential distributions of northern coastal scrub and coastal prairie roughly correspond in relation to this climate zone. Northern coastal scrub usually occurs at _500 m elevation in the coolest and most mesic habitats of any of the coastal scrub types. Soils vary widely, including well-weathered clay and shallow coarse soils and stabilized sand dunes. The soils are typically higher in salt concentrations than in surrounding areas due to exposure to the marine air. Coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), the characteristic species of northern coastal scrub, accumulates high concentrations of salts in foliage and roots from exposure to aerosol fallout, which in turn adds continually to the salt concentration of the soils. Northern coastal scrub commonly occurs on thicker soils and moister aspects than southern coastal scrub or chaparral in the Central Coast Ranges, and where it occurs adjacent to the other two types, northern coastal scrub is usually at a lower elevation. The southern coastal scrub elements are typically more drought deciduous than the northern elements. On sites of thicker soil and more moisture, northern coastal scrub is commonly found in a matrix with open meadows or patches of coastal prairie or annual grassland. It commonly invades and replaces these grasslands, the result of natural succession after the cessation of frequent fire and livestock grazing. Coyote brush is typically the first colonizer and remains the sole community member of such stands until other member species establish. Among the many California shrub vegetation types, “coastal scrub” is appreciated for its delightful fragrances and intricate blooms that characterize the coastal experience. It is sometimes referred to as soft chaparral because of its flexible stems and foliage, herbaceous understory, intergradation with coastal prairie, and smoother appearance in the landscape. This contrasts to the stiff, leathery, and rough characteristics of the “hard” chaparral types. Ecologists generally recognize northern and southern divisions of coastal scrub corresponding mainly to the shift from cooler-moister to warmer-drier climates, and in species composition. The northern division generally corresponds to the Franciscan, Lucian, and Diablan divisions of Axelrod’s “Northern coastal sage,” which transitions to the Venturan division within the “southern coastal sage.” In Central California the northern and southern types commonly occur adjacent to each other at edaphic and microclimatic ecotones in the Central Coast Ranges.

Munz and Keck popularized the term “northern coastal scrub.” They described dense stands of shrubs and forbs, often mixed with extensive areas of coastal prairie, situated between coastal strand and redwood forest along the California coast north of Big Sur. Northern coastal scrub occurs farther south and more broadly than Munz and Keck acknowledged—in discontinuous bands along the coastal terraces and the low to middle slopes of the outer Coast Ranges, from Northern Santa Barbara County north to Southern Oregon, including the coastal islands from the Northern Santa Barbara Channel north to the San Francisco Bay. Within these same latitudes inland from the coast, it occurs on the lower slopes and valley bottoms of the middle and inner Coast Ranges. It also extends inland (with less diversity) from the Golden Gate through the Coast Ranges on the hillside margins of Suisun Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and up the Sierra Nevada Foothills to more than 300 m elevation. It has been observed in scattered stands in the foothills of Placer, El Dorado, Amador, and Calaveras counties. This distribution follows the “blankets” and “corridors” of marine climate influence (zones of coastal fog or cool moist marine air) that press inland from the coast with the prevailing winds.

Potential distributions of northern coastal scrub and coastal prairie roughly correspond in relation to this climate zone. Northern coastal scrub usually occurs at _500 m elevation in the coolest and most mesic habitats of any of the coastal scrub types. Soils vary widely, including well-weathered clay and shallow coarse soils and stabilized sand dunes. The soils are typically higher in salt concentrations than in surrounding areas due to exposure to the marine air. Coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), the characteristic species of northern coastal scrub, accumulates high concentrations of salts in foliage and roots from exposure to aerosol fallout, which in turn adds continually to the salt concentration of the soils. Northern coastal scrub commonly occurs on thicker soils and moister aspects than southern coastal scrub or chaparral in the Central Coast Ranges, and where it occurs adjacent to the other two types, northern coastal scrub is usually at a lower elevation. The southern coastal scrub elements are typically more drought deciduous than the northern elements. On sites of thicker soil and more moisture, northern coastal scrub is commonly found in a matrix with open meadows or patches of coastal prairie or annual grassland. It commonly invades and replique montre replaces these grasslands, the result of natural succession after the cessation of frequent fire and livestock grazing. Coyote brush is typically the first colonizer and remains the sole community member of such stands until other member species establish. 

-taken from book chapter "Northern Coastal Scrub and Coastal Prairie" by Lawrence D. Ford and Grey F. Hayes in Barbour, M. G., Keeler-Wolf, T., and Schoenherr, A. A. editors:  Terrestrial vegetation of California UC Press 2007https://zirkonyumfiyat.com.tr/

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