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Plant & Animal Communities

BIG SUR IS HOME TO A DIVERSE ARRAY of plant communities and associated wildlife. Botanists have long been fascinated by the proximity of northern and southern species living beside one another along the region’s steep-sided ridges, narrow valleys, deep canyons, sun-drenched grasslands, and chaparral. Here, moisture-dependent redwoods may tower alongside drought-tolerant yuccas.

The story begins 5 million years ago, when the Santa Lucia Range was more of a low, rolling plain blessed with a moderate climate. Winters were warmer and summers wetter than today’s more Mediterranean climate. The climate was likely too damp for chaparral species and too warm for redwoods and their shade-loving companions. Given the relatively uniform landscape and climate, botanists suggest the area supported fewer species than today’s diverse topography permits.

Squeezed by tectonic plates and compressed by massive faults, the region rose and folded in on itself, creating the Santa Lucias’ jagged peaks, steep ridges, and deep gorges. This topographic shift occurred in concert with climatic changes from the most recent Ice Age some 2.5 million years ago. These profound changes disrupted the uniform vegetation, paving the way for a major plant invasion.