What endangered species live in the chaparral?
The Chaparral contains many endangered species, including the Costa’s hummingbird, the Coast horned lizard, the Rosy boa, the Heermann kangaroo rat, the Santa Cruz kangaroo rat, the White-eared pocket mouse, and the California gnatcatcher. Every single one of these species are endangered and need to be saved in order to prevent extinction.
What factors are causing these species to become endangered?
There are three main factors that cause species to become endangered within the chaparral. These reasons are exotic plants and animals, overgrazing by cattle, and the disruption of the natural fire regime. The exotic plants and animals are not supposed to be found in this biome. They multiply at extremely fast rates and are sometimes able to kill native species, completely throwing the food web off balance. Considering that there are many farms surrounding the chaparral area, cattle are able to graze on the land in which wild species may need to use. Finally, in most cases, fires are actually very beneficial towards the organisms in the chaparral. Some plants even need the extreme heat to open their seeds to grow, but efforts to put out these fires are often practiced. These fires should be allowed to spread at a reasonable distance from human civilization.