Ecotones: Life on the Edge
The Changing Landscape
By the 1860s, hotel owners were
converting meadows to pastures,
gardens, orchards, and hay fields.
They suppressed fires because
they threatened wooden buildings.
They also channeled the Merced
River to control flooding and
drained boggy areas of the Valley.
Meadows in Peril
Only a century ago the meadows
of Yosemite Valley were far more
extensive than they are today. With
the right balance of water, fire and
soil conditions, a meadow can survive
indefinitely. But with the alteration
of the water table and fire cycle in the
Valley, the natural balance was lost.
The zone where two habitats merge is called
an ecotone. The meadow/forest ecotone is
visible here. The water-saturated meadow
gives way to the oaks and towering conifers,
which can't survive in flood-prone areas. The
greatest diversity of wildlife exists in these
transition areas where a variety of food and
shelter is present.
