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California's Wilderness
FEBRUARY 2006
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In Learn More the National Geographic magazine team shares some of its best sources and other information to expand your knowledge of our featured subjects. Special thanks to the Research Division.
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 Did You Know?
Whether a human being, plant, or insect, you learn to be resourceful when you live in a poor neighborhood. Plants that call serpentine soil home have developed ways to cope with an environment that is low in essential nutrients such as calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, but high in metals such as magnesium, nickel, and iron. One plant, Streptanthus polygaloides, has turned this situation to its advantage. It accumulates large amounts of nickel and sequesters it in its tissues. When leaf-chewing insects such as grasshoppers come to feed, some can find their dinner fatal. In turn, one plant bug has evolved the ability to tolerate the high concentration of nickel in S. polygaloides leaves, making its body toxic to some of its own predators.
—Heidi Schultz
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Related Links
Conservation International Biodiversity Hotspots
www.biodiversityhotspots.org
The California Floristic Province is one of 34 biodiversity hotspots identified by Conservation International. Discover what makes each of these sites unique and what you can do to help preserve Earth's natural wonders.
National Wildlife Refuges
www.fws.gov/refuges
Join the millions of visitors every year who bird-watch, fish, and hike in the more than 500 wildlife refuges administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Bighorn Institute
www.bighorninstitute.org
Learn about the wild sheep of North America and how to help save the endangered populations of bighorns.
Jepson Flora Project
ucjeps.berkeley.edu/jepson_flora_project.html
Get online access to updated, definitive sources on the plants of California.
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory
www.ggro.org
Check out pages on rare raptors or visit the observatory for "hawk talks" and banding demonstrations.
The Nature Conservancy
www.nature.org
This international organization dedicated to preserving the diversity of life on Earth owns most of Santa Cruz Island and is currently working to save the island fox from golden eagles first attracted to the island by a large population of feral pigs.
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Bibliography
Butcher, Russell. America's National Wildlife Refuges: A Complete Guide. Roberts Rinehart, 2003.
Kruckeberg, Arthur. California Serpentines: Flora, Vegetation, Geology, Soils, and Management Problems. University of California, 1984.
Life on the Edge: A Guide to California's Endangered Natural Resources. Biosystems Books, 1994.
Mittermeier, Russell, and others. Hotspots Revisited. CEMEX and Conservation International, 2004.
Noss, Reed. The Redwood Forest: History, Ecology, and Conservation of the Coast Redwoods. Save-the-Redwoods League, 2000.
Snyder, Noel, and Helen Snyder. The California Condor: A Saga of Natural History and Conservation. Academic Press, 2000.
Van Driesche, Jason, and Roy Van Driesche. "After All the Sheep Are Gone: The Recovery of Santa Cruz Island After 140 Years of Grazing." In Nature Out of Place: Biological Invasions in the Global Age. Island Press, 2000.
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NGS Resources
Morell, Virginia. "Hotspots: The Rain Forest in Rio's Backyward." National Geographic (March 2004), 2-27.
Parfit, Michael. "Hotspots: Islands of the Pacific." National Geographic (March 2003), 106-25.
Warne, Kennedy. "Hotspots: New Zealand." National Geographic (October 2002), 74-101.
Vesilind, Priit J. "Hotspots: The Philippines." National Geographic (July 2002), 62-81.
Morell, Virginia. "Hotspots: China's Hengduan Mountains." National Geographic (April 2002), 98-113.
Ward, Geoffrey C. "Hotspots: India's Western Ghats." National Geographic (January 2002), 90-109.
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