Temperature •Mild Winters- an average temp. of 10 degrees Celsius •Dry Summers- average temp. of 40 degrees Celsius Precipitation • 15-40 inches of rain per year •Most precipitation occurs in the winter Seasons • Chaparral has four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

The 411 (continued)

Limiting Factors •The lack of precipitation during the summer months •Droughts • Frequent Fires

Species Diversity

• The Chaparral biome is not very diverse in terms of plant and animal life.

• Plants- most have small, hard leaves that are able to retain moisture – Poison oak, scrub oak, shrubs, trees, cacti • Animals- mostly grassland and desert types adapted to hot, dry weather •Jack rabbits, mule deer, praying mantis

Example Food Chain

Yucca Stink Beetle Ground Squirrel Gopher Snake

Some Extra Info

• The chaparral Biome is located on a little bit of most of the continents • Efforts to prevent naturally occurring fires often backfire causing much more severe fires or mudslides

c h a p

a r r a l

J. Kim Biome Project

Q u i c k F a c t s

ALMOST A DESERT BUT NOT QUITE… Temperature

Annual Avg. 59 ° F < High 91.5

° F > < Low 37 ° F > - Spring Avg 56 ° F - Summer Avg 71.7

° F - Autumn Avg 64.75

° F - Winter Avg 46 ° F

Solar Insolation – Seasons

Chaparrals have all four seasons although even though they are not as differentiated as in other regions

Precipitation

Only 10-17 inches annually - Spring 2.2 in - Summer .2 in - Autumn 4.2 in - Winter 6.8 in

Sunlight

Primarily between 30 – 50 degrees latitude – just north of the Tropic of Cancer ( Because of the low shrubs that dominate this area, there is a lot of sunlight )

P l a n t s & A n i m a l s - D I V E R S I T Y -

Western diamondback rattlesnake flannelbush chamise (greasewood)

leather oak

Texas horned lizard

wild goat

ground snake

chaparral

buckbrush (California lilac)

mouflon golden jackal

Food Chain

This is an example of a simple food chain in the chaparral. There are many different kinds of grasses which are consumed by grasshoppers.

Then the grasshoppers are eaten by the horned lizards

.

These lizards are caught by predators such as hawks when they are basking in the sun.

F I R E ? ? ?

Chaparrals naturally burn every 30 to 40 years. These fires ravish the entire region, killing off many plants in the area. However, this is part of a natural life cycle for the biome, as from these ashes come the new beginnings.