California montane chaparral and woodlands

The California montane chaparral and woodlands is an ecoregion defined by the World Wildlife Fund, spanning of mountains in the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and Coast Ranges of southern and central California. The ecoregion is part of the larger California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, and belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. The ecoregion spreads from low foothills up to the highest peaks of the following ranges: San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, Santa Susana Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains, Sierra Pelona, Topatopa Mountains, Tehachapi Mountains, San Rafael Mountains, Santa Ynez Mountains, and the long Santa Lucia Mountains. The wide elevation range and characteristic climate produce a variety of natural communities, from chaparral to mixed evergreen forest to alpine tundra. File:Angelesnationalforest.jpg|Montane woodlands in the [[San Gabriel Mountains]] File:Vasquez Rocks chaparral.jpg|Montane chaparral in [[Vasquez Rocks|Vasquez Rocks State Natural Area]] The region's Mediterranean climate is hot and dry in the summer and cool and wet in the winter. Mid-summer monsoonal thunderstorms often form over the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges of Southern California, introducing additional rain to the region. Shrublands of Chamise, Manzanita species, and scrub oak tend to dominate the lower elevations of California montane chaparral and woodlands. This ecoregion contains several oak species, including coast live oak, canyon live oak (golden-cup oak), interior live oak, tan oak, and Engelmann oak. It has eight endemic conifer species. A mosaic of different manzanita species and closed-cone pine forest appears at higher elevations. Bigcone Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga macrocarpa, is a notable resident of some of these communities. The Mediterranean California Lower Montane Black Oak-Conifer Forest plant community occurs here. Mixed evergreen forest occurs from and includes incense-cedar, foothill pine, sugar pine, white fir, Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, and western juniper.