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Big Sur's rugged mountains, crashing surf, and abundant wildlife have captivated generations of visitors. But the region has also attracted scientists bent on understanding this remarkable biological melting pot, where plants and animals from dramatically different ecosystems often mingle side by side. One biologist who has taken a close look is Paul Henson, who lived in the region in the 1980s and, with Don Usner, wrote THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BIG SUR (University of California Press, 1996).
Big Sur attracts scientists due to its status as a biological melting pot. |
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In no other part of the world do fog-loving coastal redwoods thrive on one slope of a canyon while arid-climate yuccas grow on the other, the book notes. Similarly, sea otters and cormorants live near dry-climate creatures like canyon wrens and whiptail lizards.
Henson, who now works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service overseeing biological studies in Hawaii and other Pacific Islands, recently spoke with NATURE about Big Sur's remarkable diversity.
How did you come to write this book?
I earned my undergraduate degree at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and did a lot of work at a university reserve called Big Creek that covers a big chunk of the Big Sur coast. Then, in the mid-1980s, I got a job doing sea otter research. During my down time, we started on the natural history guide. We realized that there was lots of good information floating around, but it hadn't been consolidated in one place, and made accessible to scientists and understandable to regular readers. So we decided to do it.
What makes Big Sur unusual?
For lack of a better term, it represents a kind of harmonic convergence of different ecological zones. It's where the north meets the south, for instance. What's called the Oregonia province to the north meets the Californian province to the south. So you have redwood trees meeting cacti and intermingling. You have northern and southern species of marine alga. One minute, you are hiking along in a wet cool canyon, and all of a sudden there will be a cactus. One minute it smells like Oregon and the next it smells like Mexico.
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Photo Essay
Take a photo tour of this beautiful region
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Coastal Wonders
Discover Big Sur's remarkable diversity
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Sudden Oak Death
A killer is targeting Big Sur
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For Teachers
View the BIG SUR
Lesson Plan
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Resources
Links and books about this West Coast paradise
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