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Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve
The Burns Piñon Ridge Reserve is a 303-acre (123 ha) nature reserve that is part of the University of California Natural Reserve System. It is located near Yucca Valley, California in San Bernardino County, California. Administered by UC Irvine, the reserve is owned by the University of California and managed for teaching and research. Reserve lands form a transition zone, or ecotone, between the high-elevation ecosystems of the San Bernardino Mountains and the lower, hotter Mojave Desert. History From 1947 to 1972, the reserve was owned by Bruce and Jean Burns. The couple built a home and raised a family there before selling much of the property to the University. The Burns house now serves as a field station that provides accommodations for reserve visitors. The University purchased the remainder of the Burns land in 1990. Geology The most salient feature of the reserve are its weathered boulder hills. Because the reserve lies in the rain shadow of the San Bernardino Mountai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
San Bernardino County, California
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181,654, making it the fifth-most populous county in California and the 14th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is San Bernardino. While included within the Greater Los Angeles area, San Bernardino County is included in the Riverside– San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan statistical area, as well as the Los Angeles– Long Beach combined statistical area. With an area of , San Bernardino County is the largest county in the contiguous United States by area, although some of Alaska's boroughs and census areas are larger. The county is close to the size of West Virginia. This vast county stretches from where the bulk of the county population resides in three Census County Divisions (Fontana, San Bernardino, and Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosopis Glandulosa
''Prosopis glandulosa'', commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family ( Fabaceae). Distribution The plant is primarily native to the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Its range extends on the northeast through Texas and into southwestern Kansas and Oklahoma and northwestern Louisiana, and west to southern California. It can be part of the Mesquite Bosque plant association community in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion of California and Arizona (U.S.), and Sonora state (México), and in the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and Texas in the US, and Chihuahua in Mexico. Description ''Prosopis glandulosa'' has rounded big and floppy, drooping branches with feathery foliage and straight, paired spines on twigs. This tree normally reaches , but can grow as tall as . It is considered to have a medium growth rate. It flowers from March to November, with pale, yellow, elongated spikes and bears straig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phainopepla
The phainopepla or northern phainopepla (''Phainopepla nitens'') is the most northerly representative of the mainly tropical Central American family Ptiliogonatidae, the silky flycatchers. Its name is from the Greek meaning "shining robe" in reference to the male's plumage. Description The phainopepla is a striking bird, long with a noticeable crest and a long tail; it is slender, and has an upright posture when it perches. Its bill is short and slender. The male is glossy black, and has a white wing patch that is visible when it flies; the female is plain gray and has a lighter gray wing patch. Both sexes have red eyes, but these are more noticeable in the female than the male. Range and habitat The phainopepla ranges as far north as central California with the San Joaquin Valley and southern Utah, and south to central Mexico, the interior Mexican Plateau region; the southern edge of the plateau, the transverse mountains is its non-breeding home. It is found in hot areas, i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coachwhip Snake
''Masticophis flagellum'' is a species of nonvenomous colubrid snake, commonly referred to as the coachwhip or the whip snake, which is endemic to the United States and Mexico. Six subspecies are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies. Taxonomy Etymology The subspecific name, ''ruddocki'', is in honor of Dr. John C. Ruddock who was Medical Director for the Richfield Oil Corporation. Subspecies Six subspecies of ''Masticophis flagellum'' are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies. *''Masticophis flagellum cingulum'' – Sonoran coachwhip *''Masticophis flagellum flagellum'' – eastern coachwhip *''Masticophis flagellum lineatulus'' – lined coachwhip *''Masticophis flagellum piceus'' – red coachwhip, red racer *''Masticophis flagellum ruddocki'' – San Joaquin coachwhip *''Masticophis flagellum testaceus'' – western coachwhip ''Nota bene'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally descr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horned Lizard
Horned lizards (''Phrynosoma''), also known as horny toads or horntoads, are a genus of North American lizards and the type genus of the family Phrynosomatidae. The common names refer directly to their horns or to their flattened, rounded bodies, and blunt snouts. The generic name ''Phrynosoma'' means "toad-bodied". In common with true toads ( amphibians of the family Bufonidae), horned lizards tend to move sluggishly, often remain motionless, and rely on their remarkable camouflage to avoid detection by predators. They are adapted to arid or semiarid areas. The spines on the lizard's back and sides are modified reptile scales, which prevent water loss through the skin, whereas the horns on the head are true horns (i.e., they have a bony core). Of the 21 species of horned lizards, 15 are native to the USA. The largest-bodied and most widely distributed of the American species is the Texas horned lizard. Defenses Horned lizards use a variety of means to avoid predation. Their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Callipepla Gambelii
Gambel's quail (''Callipepla gambelii'') is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. It inhabits the desert regions of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Sonora; also New Mexico-border Chihuahua and the Colorado River region of Baja California. Gambel's quail is named in honor of William Gambel, a 19th-century naturalist and explorer of the Southwestern United States. The species is not as widely introduced as the related California quail. It was, however, released on San Clemente Island in 1912 by Charles T. Howland et al., where it is currently still established. Description The ''Callipepla gambelii'' birds are easily recognized by their top knots and scaly plumage on their undersides. Gambel's quail have bluish-gray plumage on much of their bodies, and males have copper feathers on the top of their heads, black faces, and white stripes above their eyes. The bird's average length is with a wingspan of . These birds have re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oreortyx Pictus
The mountain quail (''Oreortyx pictus'') is a small ground-dwelling bird in the New World quail family. This species is the only one in the genus ''Oreortyx'', which is sometimes included in ''Callipepla''. This is not appropriate, however, as the mountain quail's ancestors have diverged from other New World quails earlier than the bobwhites, no later than 6 mya. Description The bird's average length is 26–28 cm (10–11 in), with a wingspan of 35–40 cm (14–16 in). They have relatively short, rounded wings and long, featherless legs. These birds are easily recognized by their top knots, which are shorter in the female and change color with the seasons and geographic location of particular populations. They have a brown face, gray breast, brown back and primaries, and heavily white barred underside. Females display greater brown coloring on their dorsal side, a paler red on their undersides, and wider white barring on the flank than their male counterparts. Mountain quails ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juncus
''Juncus'' is a genus of monocotyledonous flowering plants, commonly known as rushes. It is the largest genus in the family Juncaceae, containing around 300 species. Description Rushes of the genus ''Juncus'' are herbaceous plants that superficially resemble grasses or sedges. They have historically received little attention from botanists; in his 1819 monograph, James Ebenezer Bicheno described the genus as "obscure and uninviting". The form of the flower differentiates rushes from grasses or sedges. The flowers of ''Juncus'' comprise five whorls of floral parts: three sepals, three petals (or, taken together, six tepals), two to six stamens (in two whorls) and a stigma with three lobes. The stems are round in cross-section, unlike those of sedges, which are typically somewhat triangular in cross-section. In ''Juncus'' section ''Juncotypus'' (formerly called ''Juncus'' subg. ''Genuini''), which contains some of the most widespread and familiar species, the leaves are reduce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quercus Cornelius-mulleri
''Quercus cornelius-mulleri'' is a North American species of oak known by the common name Muller oak, or Muller's oak. It was described to science in 1981 when it was segregated from the '' Quercus dumosa'' complex and found to warrant species status of its own. It was named after ecologist Cornelius Herman Muller. It is native to southern California and Baja California, where it grows in chaparral, oak woodlands, and other habitat in foothills and mountains. It can most easily be observed in Joshua Tree National Park and in the woodlands along the western margins of the Colorado Desert in San Diego County, California.Nixon, K. C. (2002)The Oak Biodiversity of California and Adjacent Regions. US Forest Service Gen. Tech. Report Description ''Quercus cornelius-mulleri'' is a bushy shrub not exceeding 3 meters (10 feet) in height. It is densely branched, its tangled twigs gray, brown, or yellowish, fuzzy when new and becoming scaly with age. The evergreen leaves are leathery ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senegalia Greggii
''Senegalia greggii'', formerly known as ''Acacia greggii'', is a species of tree in the genus ''Senegalia'' native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in Mexico. The population in Utah at 37°10' N is the northernmost naturally occurring ''Senegalia'' species anywhere in the world. Common names include acacia bush, catclaw acacia, catclaw mesquite, Gregg's catclaw, paradise flower, wait-a-minute bush, and wait-a-bit tree; these names mostly come from the fact that the tree has numerous hooked prickles with the shape and size of a cat's claw which tend to hook onto passers-by; the hooked person must stop ("wait a minute") to remove the prickles carefully to avoid injury or shredded clothing. (The common name "cat's claw" is also used to refer to several other plant species, including ''Uncaria tomen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chilopsis Linearis
''Chilopsis'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants containing the single species ''Chilopsis linearis''. It is known commonly as desert willow''Chilopsis linearis''. USDA PLANTS. or desert-willow''Chilopsis linearis''. NatureServe. 2012. because of its -like leaves, but it is not a true willow being instead a member of the family. It is a [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and professional degrees, and roughly 30,000 undergraduates and 6,000 graduate students are enrolled at UCI as of Fall 2019. The university is classified among " R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity", and had $436.6 million in research and development expenditures in 2018. UCI became a member of the Association of American Universities in 1996. The university was rated as one of the " Public Ivies” in 1985 and 2001 surveys comparing publicly funded universities the authors claimed provide an education comparable to the Ivy League. The university also administers the UC Irvine Medical Center, a large teaching hospital in Orange, and its affiliated health sciences system; the University of California, Irvine, Arboretum; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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