page_title: Ecology of the Sierra Nevada
section_title: Western biotic zones
hierarchical_section_title: Ecology of the Sierra Nevada / Western biotic zones
caption_attribution_description: English: Trees on a stony outcrop, Sierra Nevada foothills, near Woodlake, California.
context_page_description: The ecology of the Sierra Nevada, located in the U.S. state of California, is diverse and complex: the plants and animals are a significant part of the scenic beauty of the mountain range. The combination of climate, topography, moisture, and soils influences the distribution of ecological communities across an elevation gradient from 500 to 14,500 feet. Biotic zones range from scrub and chaparral communities at lower elevations, to subalpine forests and alpine meadows at the higher elevations. Particular ecoregions that follow elevation contours are often described as a series of belts that follow the length of the Sierra Nevada. There are many hiking trails, paved and unpaved roads, and vast public lands in the Sierra Nevada for exploring the many different biomes and ecosystems.
  The western and eastern Sierra Nevada have substantially different species of plants and animals, because the east lies in the rain shadow of the crest. The plants and animals in the east are thus adapted to much drier conditions.
  The altitudes listed for the biotic zones are for the central Sierra Nevada.
caption: Forest in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
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