Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

02 Apr, 04 AM - 04 Apr, 06 AM

The coast of California is home to many endemic species uniquely adapted to cope with water limitations. No rain falls during summer and the interannual variability in winter rainfall is as high as anywhere in the United States. Fortunately for many plant and animal species, California's coast is generally foggy during summer months. This coastal fog mitigates evaporation rates by shading the sun and provides substantial water inputs through fog drip. California's Coastal Range makes for an especially interesting place to observe the relationships between plants and drought because gradients in elevation and coastal influence cause strong gradients in temperature, rainfall, and fog. From roughly October through March, orographic and adiabatic effects cause high-elevation sites to be relatively cool and wet. From May through September, a temperature inversion layer develops about 400 m above sea level and the moisture gradient switches. Low-elevation, coastal sites sit within the cool marine-layer and are regularly shaded by stratus clouds. High-elevation sites are warm and very dry. Middle elevation sites experience moderate amounts of cloud shading but receive high amounts of direct cloud-water inputs. I propose to make two visits to the Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve. The first visit will be at the tail end of the rainy season at the beginning of April and the second will be at the beginning of October at the tail end of the dry season. Analyzing the carbon-13 concentration of plant leaves along an elevation gradient spanning from the coast near Whale Point up towards Boronda Camp, I will quantify how effectively the drought-mitigating impacts of the summer marine-layer compensate for the fact that low elevation sites receive substantially less winter rainfall than do the high elevation sites.

Visit #21010 @Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 21494 | Research

Measuring plant drought stress along an elevation, fog, and rainfall gradient on California's central Coast

faculty - Columbia University

Reservation Members(s)

Group of 6 Research Assistant (non-student/faculty/postdoc) Apr 2 - 4, 2010 (3 days)
Park Williams Apr 2 - 4, 2010 (3 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Boronda Camp 7 Apr 2 - 4, 2010
Whale Point Researcher Cabin 7 Apr 2 - 4, 2010