List of ecoregions in California explained

This is a list of ecoregions in California.

Terrestrial ecoregions

California is in the Nearctic realm. Ecoregions are listed by biome:^[1]

Temperate coniferous forests

• Eastern Cascades forests (Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills)
• Great Basin montane forests
• Klamath–Siskiyou forests (Klamath Mountains)
• Northern California coastal forests
• Sierra Nevada forests

Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

• California Central Valley grasslands

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub

• California coastal sage and chaparral
• California interior chaparral and woodlands
• California montane chaparral and woodlands

Deserts and xeric shrublands

• Great Basin shrub steppe
• Mojave Desert
• Snake–Columbia shrub steppe
• Sonoran Desert

Freshwater ecoregions

• Colorado^[2]
• Death Valley
• Lahontan
• Oregon Lakes
• Oregon & Northern California Coastal
• Southern California Coastal–Baja California
• Sacramento–San Joaquin

Marine ecoregions

• Northern California^[3]
• Southern California Bight

Notes and References

1. Olson, D. M, E. Dinerstein . Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth . . 2001 . 51 . 11 . 933–938 . 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0933:TEOTWA]2.0.CO;2 . etal. free .
2. Abell, R., M. Thieme, C. Revenga, M. Bryer, M. Kottelat, N. Bogutskaya, B. Coad, N. Mandrak, S. Contreras-Balderas, W. Bussing, M. L. J. Stiassny, P. Skelton, G. R. Allen, P. Unmack, A. Naseka, R. Ng, N. Sindorf, J. Robertson, E. Armijo, J. Higgins, T. J. Heibel, E. Wikramanayake, D. Olson, H. L. Lopez, R. E. d. Reis, J. G. Lundberg, M. H. Sabaj Perez, and P. Petry. (2008). Freshwater ecoregions of the world: A new map of biogeographic units for freshwater biodiversity conservation. BioScience 58:403-414, http://www.feow.org/downloads/Abell_et_al_08_BioScience.pdf.
3. Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573-583.