Montane Forests
A tall mountain rises up in the midground and background, with tall, dark green coniferous trees reaching up toward the clear blue sky as the sun shines overhead. The mountain is covered with slate-grey rocky outcrops.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in central California.
Photo credit: Brett Billings, US Fish & Wildlife Service
Montane Forests
A large black bird with a pink, fleshy neck and head stares at the viewer straight on. A bright orange tag with the number “98” is affixed to its wing as it shelters its fluffy, downey grey chick by crouching over the young bird. Pale chalky splashes of dried up liquid - probably feces - decorate the tan grey stone cave walls around them.
A California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) protects its chick in a nest cave. California condors are North America’s largest land bird and breeding pairs nest in caves high up on cliff faces in some parts of central and southern California, and parts of Utah, Arizona, and Baja California.
Photo taken near Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Southern California, USA.
Photo credit: Joseph Brandt, US Fish and Wildlife Service
A brown frog crouches on a wet dark grey rock. The bright mustard-yellow underside of its legs peek out from its coiled position.
The Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana muscosa) is a federally endangered species found in Southern California and the Sierra Nevadas.
Photo credit: Rick Kuyper, US Fish & Wildlife Service.
A male Mission Blue butterfly perches on some vegetation, displaying its light blue powdery wings. As of 14 December 2009, the 'mission blue Butterfly' (Icaricia icarioides missionensis) is listed as Endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
San Bruno Mountain, California.
Photo credit: Patrick Kobernus
STay tuned - more content coming soon!
https://www.climatesciencealliance.org/southern-forests
relevant publications
Jules, E.S., DeSiervo, M.H., Reilly, M.J., Bost, D.S. and Butz, R.J., 2022. The effects of a half century of warming and fire exclusion on montane forests of the Klamath Mountains, California, USA. Ecological Monographs, 92(4), p.e1543.
Royce, E.B., 2018. Snowmelt variation contributes to topoclimatic refugia under montane Mediterranean climate change. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 48(12), pp.1526-1534.