GEOG 442

Biogeography

Lab 2: Comparison of Species within a Genus

In this lab, you'll work in teams to characterize the similarities and differences in the distributions of several closely-related species in a genus. From those distributions, you will try to infer the environmental factors that seem to give the advantage to one species over its relatives. That done, you will predict which species are unlikely at a given location, very likely, or possibly present.

Lab 2a: Team Assignments to Genera

Each team will be assigned to one of the following groups:

• Pinus, the pine genus
  • P. contorta, lodgepole pine or shore pine
  • P. coulteri, Coulter pine or big cone pine
  • P. flexilis, limber pine
  • P. jeffreyi, Jeffrey pine
  • P. lambertiana, sugar pine
  • P. monophylla, singleleaf piñon
  • P. ponderosa, ponderosa pine or Western yellow pine

• Quercus, the oak genus
  • Q. agrifolia, coast live oak or encina
  • Q. chrysolepis, canyon live oak
  • Q. douglasii, blue oak
  • Q. dumosa, scrub oak
  • Q. kelloggii, California black oak
  • Q. lobata, valley oak or California white oak or roble
  • Q. wislizenii, interior live oak

• Ceanothus, the "mountain lilac" genus
  • C. cuneata, buckbrush
  • C. foliosus, wavy leaf ceanothus
  • C. greggii, desert ceanothus
  • C. integerrimus, California lilac
  • C. leucodermis, ceanothus chaparral whitethorn
  • C. oliganthus, hairy ceanothus
  • C. palmeri, Palmer's ceanothus

Lab 2b: Get a Sense for Where Your Critters Live

Look up each of your seven species in the resources below. Learn as much as you can about what they look like and how you might recognize them in the field, the situations where they are most commonly found, and any environmental preferences they are known to have.

• Collins, Barbara. Key to Coastal and Chaparral Flowering Plants of Southern California
• Collins, Barbara. Key to Trees and Wildflowers of the Mountains of Southern California
• Munz, Philip A. A Flora of Southern California
• Munz, Philip A. and Keck, David D. A California Flora and Supplement
• Internet search engines for each species' Latin name
• Internet search engines for the vegetation of the regions your trip traverses

Lab 2c: Predictions of What You'll Find on a Virtual Field Trip

On the basis of what you've learned about your seven species, construct a virtual field trip on the appropriate map, explaining what folks on a tour can expect to find (or not find) at each of the marked stops on the itinerary. For each stop, indicate:

1. the species in your genus that tour participants have a high probability of seeing at that stop
2. the species that they probably will not see there at all,
3. the species that they may find as rare elements in the local flora

Now, explain your expectations on the basis of what you've learned about your genus and its member species.

________________________________________________

Pine group

Here's your itinerary: You'll be "driving" north on Angeles Crest Highway from the offramp on the Foothill Freeway (I-210) in La Cañada. The trip from La Cañada to Valyermo on the Big Pines Highway on the other side of the San Gabriel Mountains is about 65 miles or so. Your stops:

1. Red Box at the intersection with Mount Wilson Road (about 14 miles into the trip, at an elevation of 4,666 feet)
2. Charlton Flats Picnic Area (about 23 miles into the trip, at an elevation of 5,300 feet)
3. Three Points Junction (about 28 miles in, at an elevation of 5,920 feet)
4. Buckhorn Campground (about 34 miles into the trip, at 6,300 feet elevation)
5. Dawson Saddle (about 45 miles into your excursion and 7,903 feet high)
6. Big Pines (about 55 miles into the trip, at the intersection with N4, about 7,050 feet up)
7. Largo Vista intersection of Highway N4 (Big Pines Hwy), about 60 miles from La Cañada and roughly 5 miles west of Big Pines. The elevation here is about 5,225 feet.
8. Valyermo, about 65 miles from the start of the trip, some 10 miles west of Big Pines on Big Pines Highway, at roughly 3,775 feet in elevation

________________________________________________

Oaks group

Your itinerary takes you up to the northwestern part of Los Angeles County. You "drive" north however you want to to the 101 in the southern San Fernando Valley. From there, proceed west along the southern edge of the Valley to its far west end (Calabasas). Keep on going to Las Virgenes Canyon Road. Continue west along the 101 to the North 23 in Thousand Oaks. Go north on the 23 through the Conejo Valley over the Simi Hills into Moorpark. In Moorpark, take the 118 (the 23 basically flows into it) and follow the 118 east through the Simi Valley, over Santa Susana Pass, and into the northern part of the San Fernando Valley. Go through the Valley to I-405, which you'll take northbound. It merges with the I-5 up in the northernmost corner of the Valley, and you'll stay on or near the 5 allllllll the way through the Santa Clarita Valley and up to the Grapevine. There are a couple of short, scenic tours, however, off the 5. The first of these is off the I-5 at Balboa Blvd. just after the Foothill Freeway (I-210). Go west over the freeway to San Fernando Road and go north (right). It turns into The Old Road. Going north on The Old Road, take a left on Weldon Canyon Rd. Duck under the freeway and stop at the intersection with Coltrane Rd. Observe the oaks and then get back on The Old Road going north to rejoin the I-5 at Calgrove Ave. Continuing up the I-5, passing Castaic Junction (Hwy 126) up that weird grade where the opposing traffic is on your RIGHT to Templin Highway. Get off at Templin Hwy. and proceed east, oh, about a mile or two and look around. Get back to I-5 and keep going north to Highway 138. Go east on the 138 a couple miles to the Gorman Post Road and look around at the oaks to your north. Take Gorman Post Rd. north to Gorman and past Gorman to the bridge over the I-5 just past the top of the Tejon Pass. Gawk at the trees, then cross the bridge and make a right on the road that runs along the western side of the freeway. Wander through that spectacularly tacky truck stop at the Frazier Park exit. Continue down to Lebec down the Grapevine Grade. Stare at oaks some more. Then, take either the same little road or get back on I-5 and get over to Fort Tejon (which itself is an interesting little stop and tour). Look at the oaks on the grounds there. At this point, you can return back home, unless you have a real hankering to find out whether your car's brakes are good and whether your car has the punch to get back up the steepest part of the Grapevine! Your stops:

1. The area around the Las Virgenes offramp off the 101 and along Las Virgenes Valley, about 825 feet up
2. The area north and west of the Madera Rd. offramp from the 118, about 975 feet or so up
3. The area west of the Weldon Canyon Rd. and Coltrane Rd. (west of The Old Road and of I-5), some 1,575 feet up
4. The area east of I-5 on Templin Hwy to the northwest of Castaic Lake, which is, oh, 2,800 feet in elevation
5. The area north of the intersection of Highway 138 and the Gorman Post Rd., some 3,500 feet up
6. The area east and north of the Tejon Pass summit (north and east of the bridge), abut 4,100 feet up
7. The area west of Lebec about 3,775 feet up
8. Fort Tejon, abut 3,500 feet up

________________________________________________

Ceanothus group

For this, the longest of the virtual field trips, you'll proceed south on I-405, merging with I-5 south of Irvine. Continue south on I-5 through El Toro and Mission Viego and San Juan Capistrano and for a long way south (past San Onofre through Camp Pendleton) to Oceanside. In Oceanside, take Route 76 inland and follow it up past I-15, continuing past Mission San Antonio de Pala and on to Lake Henshaw. Past Lake Henshaw, you'll take a left onto Route 79 and mosey along that for a long time to Route 371. Follow Route 371 to Route 74. Take the right onto 74 and follow it for six or seven miles to view the area surrounding the town of Pinyon Pines. Returning back along 74, continue back past the 371 junction on up into Garner Valley. Take Route 243 to Idyllwild and then finally (and laboriously) follow 243 down to Banning and I-10, from which it's an easy shot back to Long Beach. Here are your stops: Q

1. On Route 76, about 5 miles inland, take San Luis Rey Road to the right and about a mile along that, have a look at the scrub around you. You're probably up around 200 feet up. Continue along San Luis Rey to rejoin Route 76.
2. Past Bonsall, take Linda Vista Drive to the left (north). Observe the vegetation to your north and west. You're around 300 feet up.
3. A few miles past Mission San Antonio, visit Wilderness Garden County Park, which is roughly 600 feet up.
4. At Morettis Junction south of Lake Henshaw, take a left onto Route 79, following it past Warner Springs and up to Puerta La Cruz, where you'll stop and look at the scrub on the hills to the west. You're about 2,950 feet up in this vicinity.
5. Take the right onto Route 371 and then the right onto 74 to get to Pinyon Pines. You are about 4,200 feet up.
6. Going back along 74, go up to Route 243 to get to the Idyllwild area. Stop just before you get to the "urban" area, at Saunders Meadows Road, where you'll be about 4,925 feet in elevation. The area is getting forested but chaparral persists as an understory.
7. Slowly and carefully winding north on 243, stop at Hurley Flats Road, where you're some 4,600 feet up.
8. There is some VERY twisty road just before you descend into Banning. Stop to catch your breath and still your nerves just where you come out of the hills and before the urbanized area -- around 2,300 feet in elevation.

first placed on the web: 10/30/01
last revised: 11/13/01
© Dr. Christine M. Rodrigue