Vegetation in Relation to Geological Substratum and Fire in the San Luis Obispo Quadrangle, California
Wells PV. 1962. Vegetation in Relation to Geological Substratum and Fire in the San Luis Obispo Quadrangle, California. Ecological Monographs. 32(1):79-103
Since grassland, shrubland and forest occur on almost all geological substrata in the San Luis ara, it is evident that the nature of the substratum has little direct influence on the physiognomy of vegetation under this range of climate, except when considered in connection with fire. But if the vegetation is regarded from the floristic standpoint, then the nature of the geological substratum has a pronounced effect. There is a wealth of distributional peculiarities with respect to substratum shown in the results of vegetation analysis presented. Perhaps the most striking examples of floristic segregation in relation to geological substratum are found in the genera _Arctostaphylos_ and _Ceanothus_, especially the former. Other striking examples of segregation are seen in the several species of conifers. Only a relatively few species of woody plants are found on a very wide variety of substrata, and it may be assumed from the work of Kruckeberg that suites of edaphic ecotypes exist within these species.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Wells, Philip
- Units
- SODN
- Keywords
- arctostaphylos, Botany (Reproduction Dispersal Behavior), Californian Biome, Ceanothus, geological substratum, Geology