At the Chaparral side of the trail, I have found plants with strange shaped leaves that seems to develop their specialized niches for the relatively dry environment.

The plant with heart shaped leaves: This plant can be seen at multiple locations. They are having these heart shaped leaves that form a special curvature, which I suspect is easier for them to "collect" moisture/precipitation for the plant in this drier environment.

The Apoidea (Bee)** found on a leaf seems to have a niche adapted from the environment: its brownish yellow body color that is less visible (despite it being so visible here at this green leaf) at the Chaparral environment, which is dominate by dried up plant debris and small shrubs. And since it is spring now, lots of flowers available at this place makes plenty of food for it.

Lots of different plants with spiny leaves were found at this Chaparral region. They mainly develop their leaves to adapt to the dry environment by protecting moisture from evaporating too fast.

The pill-bugs found under a decaying tree trunk have developed such a thick shell as a niche for the dry environment. Also, they usually hide under the shade or decaying plant debris during the day and come out only at night. Such behavior can also be their niche developed for such a dry Chaparral environment.

** Update! I was fooled by this bee-mimicking hover fly~ Thanks for the help from @kueda's ! He taught me the easy way to distinguish them from bees is their eyes touching each other. Great lesson!

Posted on February 20, 2013 09:36 PM by yzhou