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

J. Kim

Biome Project

c h a p c h a p a r r a a r r a l l

Q u i c k F a c t sALMOST A DESERT BUT NOT QUITE…

TemperatureAnnual 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 – SeasonsChaparrals have all four seasons although even though they are not as

differentiated as in other regions

PrecipitationOnly 10-17 inches annually

- Spring 2.2 in

- Summer .2 in

- Autumn 4.2 in

- Winter 6.8 in

SunlightPrimarily 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

golden jackal

mouflon

wild goat

chamise (greasewood)

chaparral

buckbrush (California lilac)

flannelbush

leather oak

ground snake

Texas horned lizard

Western diamondback rattlesnake

- D I V E R S I T Y -

Food ChainThis 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.