EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Another Sutter View

Sutter Buttes
Central Valley, California

Explanation:  We've been here before.  First, check out this previous view of the Sutter Buttes here in the Central Valley of California, when they were shrouded in a white veil and told a story of islands in the sky.  And now see this same site cleared of its shroud!

These are indeed the remarkable Sutter Buttes, often touted as the world's smallest mountain range.  They consist of a fully isolated set of volcanic lava domes formed some 1.6 million years ago, that are nowadays surrounded by intensive agricultural farming plots.  

Studies have revealed that there are some 20 species of amphibians and reptiles within the confines of these lava fields, surprisingly including an invasive turtle, the pond slider (Trachemys scripta) (Olson et al. 2016). 

Information:
    Olson, E. O., J. D. Shedd, and T. N. Engstrom.  2016.  A Field Inventory and Collections Summary of Herpetofauna from the Sutter Buttes, an “Inland Island” within California's Great Central Valley.  Western North American Naturalist 76(3):352-366.