| The unique climate zones of the desert and the coastal
forest differ immensely. The life, plants and animals, that inhabit each of these unique climate zones contrast each other in both forms and functions. Although each unique climate zone differs in both abundance and apparent quality of life both do support and nourish the life uniquely adapted specifically to each zone. Organisms tenaciously cling to life in the harsh and rigorously demanding environment of the desert. Hellish winds, devoid of moisture beat upon inanimate rock, animate animal and plant life alike, sucking the scarce moisture away. Plants, crowned in razor sharp shrouds of needles which serve to protect their succulent inner heart meat, grow sparingly across the parched and cracked land. Tough, dehydrated animals hold desperately to the threads of life as they scurry up gullies in the dead of night searching for sustenance in the unyielding land. Along the horizon can be seen a rich azure color, bespeaking the lack of moisture in the atmosphere. Winds scream up an arroyo, bringing with them sand which sculpt the rock formations into nightmare shapes. In the cold winter infrequent storms unleash their fury on a world ill prepared for the deluge of water sweeping down canyons and removing all obstacles before sinking deep into the dry ground. As each day progresses the sun beating down upon the scorched earth causes temperatures to rise to levels nearly intolerable to the tenaciously clinging life. As day turns to night the calories of heat absorbed by the Earth are radiated back into the atmosphere causing midday temperatures of eighty degrees Fahrenheit to drop below the freezing point of water by midnight. Over the centuries various forms of plant life have evolved and adapted to the extremities of the desert. Typical of desert plant life is the cacti which have special water storage tissue and lack substantial moisture losing surface area. Also found upon this harsh land are hardy grasses and flowering plants which can grow from seed to a flowering state within a short period of time. Along with plant life, animal life has slowly adapted to the demands of the unforgiving climate. In the twilight of sunset, a sidewinder slithers along the base of sand dune searching for mice while a coyote stalks a roadrunner hiding in the mesquite. Jackrabbits and kangaroo rats battle for the last seeds on a bush that will not bear fruit again until next year. Two old crows caw at each other while prancing in circles about the skeletal remains, originally picked clean by vultures, of some unfortunate animal. In contrast to the desert climate, a profusion of life exists on the flanks of mountains rising near the ocean. Breezes, wafting in off the sea, funnel up draws before catching on the lofty crags and depositing life giving precipitation onto the slopes below. Adequate moisture creates a landscape luxuriously covered with a profusion of vegetation which affords food and protection for the animal life within. In comparison to the desert an extensive array of animal life forages through the heavily wooded terrain. Often in the early morning and occasionally in the late afternoon, soft billowing pillows of fog roll up the slopes enclosing everything in cool dampness. As in the desert environment, erosion plays a roll in the forest habitat although a lesser one as the roots of the forest burrow deep into the mountain's flank retaining much of the soil with a strong grip. Temperatures remain fairly stable, due to the nearby ocean, and typically stay within a range of twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit day and night. Stately oak and tall sycamore rear their full heads towards the heavens. Blanketing the terrain are thick coats of tangled chaparral clothed with sweet smell of purple and white California Lilac (Ceanothus) flowers. Mushrooms, ferns and other delicate plants, requiring an abundance of shade and water, abound on the forest floor carpeting it in a swath of life. An atrocious racket, uttered by the large animal populace, echoes and reverberates throughout the forest filling it with the music of enterprising life. A flock of birds twirls and spins through the air and then climbs swiftly in a spiral pattern high into the sky. Squirrels take up a fierce debate chattering at a family of wildcats frolicking in a meadow of tall grass and wildflowers that suddenly race up a tree. A huge bullfrog, siting on a sunken log in a small pond, bellows to his sweetheart in the twilight of sunset. Both the barren desert and the lush coastal forest nourish life. Although one seems soft and the other hard the life that lives within each is well adapted to it's own unique environment, it's own unique climate. All forms of life originally adapted to their own unique environment, be it forest, desert, prairie, marsh, tundra or a unique micro-climate. That unique environment might be a barren desert, a lush costal forest or even a golden seed-laden prairie, each unique climate holds a certain magic and beauty of its own. |
