Factbites
 Where results make sense
About us   |   Why use us?   |   Reviews   |   PR   |   Contact us  

Topic: Ecoregions


Related Topics

  
  Ecoregion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Another way of looking at an ecoregion is a "recurring pattern of ecosystems associated with characteristic combinations of soil and landform that characterise that region" (Brunckhorst, 2000).
Others have defined ecoregions as areas of ecological potential based on combinations of biophysical parameters such as climate and topography.
The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tend to be distinct from that of other ecoregions.
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Ecoregion   (379 words)

  
 Level III Ecoregions
The northernmost ecoregion in the United States is bounded on the north and the west by the Arctic Ocean and stretches eastward nearly to the international boundary between Alaska and the Yukon Territory, Canada.
This ecoregion consists of a wide swath of rolling hills and plateaus that grades from the coastal plain on the north to the Brooks Range on the south.
This ecoregion in southwestern Alaska is composed of a chain of sedimentary islands (eroded from older volcanic formations) that are crowned by steep volcanoes.
www.hort.purdue.edu /newcrop/cropmap/ecoreg/descript.html   (8213 words)

  
 South Dakota Ecoregions - South Dakota Birds   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
This ecoregion is a relatively flat, elevated expanse covering the mid-elevation slopes and grasslands of the Black hills.
The Missouri Coteau Slope ecoregion declines in elevation from the Missouri Coteau (42a) to the Missouri River.
The Prairie Coteau Escarpment ecoregion, though small, is a distinctive ecosystem, rising 300 to 600 feet in elevation from the Minnesota River valley to the brow of the Prairie Coteau (46k).
huskertsd.tripod.com /habitat/ecoregions.htm   (2745 words)

  
 Baileys' Eco-Regions (July 1995)   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
This volume was originally published in 1978 to provide a general description of the ecosystem geography of the Nation as shown on the 1976 map "Ecoregions of the United States." It was first published as an unnumbered publication by the Intermountain Region, USDA Forest Service, Ogden, Utah.
An explanation of the basis for the regions delineated on the map was presented elsewhere (Bailey 1983).
The technique of mapping ecoregions was subsequently expanded to include the rest of North America (Bailey and Cushwa 1981) and the world (Bailey 1989).
www.fs.fed.us /land/ecosysmgmt/ecoreg1_home.html   (200 words)

  
 Ecoregions   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
Ecoregion conservation (ERC) is a strategy for conservation planning and action at a scale that is determined by the patterns of biological diversity and the ecological processes that sustain them.
Ecoregional conservation (ERC) applies the concepts of conservation biology and landscape ecology (among other fields of biology) at an ecoregional level, in order to conserve biodiversity and ecological processes in their natural patterns of distribution.
Ecoregion conservation also highlights the conservation of specific biodiversity features such as: ecological processes, unusual evolutionary phenomena, higher order diversity (generic and family), and rare habitat types, as well as the more traditional criteria of species richness and endemism.
www.wwfguianas.org /ecoregion_conservation.htm   (494 words)

  
 Conservation Ecology: Biodiversity, urban areas, and agriculture: locating priority ecoregions for conservation
These ecoregions tend to be concentrated in the southeastern United States, California, and, to a lesser extent, the Atlantic coast, southern Texas, and the U.S. Midwest.
Ecoregions are defined as relatively coarse biogeographic divisions of a landscape that delineate areas with broadly similar environmental conditions and natural communities.
To identify ecoregions of concern, we plotted the richness and endemism indices against the measures of urbanization and agriculture and identified, for each of the four plots, the ecoregions that fell above the 66th quantile (i.e., in the upper third) on both axes (see Fig.
www.ecologyandsociety.org /vol8/iss2/art1/main.html   (4630 words)

  
 EPA - Ecoregions of the United States
Ecoregions are defined as areas of relative homogeneity in ecological systems and their components.
Ecoregions separate different patterns of human stresses on the environment and different patterns in the existing and attainable quality of environmental resources.
The approach we have used to compile ecoregion maps is based on the premise that ecological regions can be identified by analyzing the patterns and composition of biotic and abiotic phenomena that affect or reflect differences in ecosystem quality and integrity.
www.epa.gov /bioindicators/html/usecoregions.html   (420 words)

  
 Nearctica - Ecology - Ecoregions
Ecoregions are defined on similarities in plant and animal species, climate, soils, and the general topography of the landscape.
Therefore the classic manual on ecoregions is reproduced here; "Descriptions of the Ecoregions of the United States" by Robert G. Bailey.
In this system of ecosystem mapping, the ecoregions of the United States are divided into three levels of complexity; domains, divisions, and provinces, each defining a finer and finer subdivision of the vegetation of the country.
www.nearctica.com /ecology/ecoreg/ecoreg.htm   (667 words)

  
 EPA-Level III Ecoregions
The ecoregions shown here have been derived from Omernik (1987) and from refinements of Omernik's framework that have been made for other projects.
Designed to serve as a spatial framework for environmental resource management, ecoregions denote areas within which ecosystems (and the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources) are generally similar.
Level III and IV ecoregions of Pennsylvania and the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ridge and Valley, and Central Appalachians of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
www.epa.gov /wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iii.htm   (724 words)

  
 How ecoregions can be used as units for conservation   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
Ecoregions are defined in biological terms and, as such, are logical units for conserving biodiversity.
By moving from sites defined geographically or politically to biologically defined ecoregions, WWF can better assess what is necessary to maintain the full array of biodiversity –; species, communities, ecosystems, and ecological processes (see a map of more than 200 of the globally important ecoregions).
Whether an ecoregion is made up of forests, grasslands, rivers and streams, or marine and coastal zones, the people who live in an ecoregion often share a common relationship with the land, water, and their other natural resources.
www.panda.org /about_wwf/how_we_work/conservation/ecoregion_units.cfm   (218 words)

  
 Ecoregions of North Dakota and South Dakota
Ecoregions are directly applicable to the immediate needs of state agencies, including the development of biological criteria and water quality standards, and the establishment of management goals for nonpoint-source pollution.
Level IV regions are more detailed ecoregions for state-level applications; and level V are the most detailed ecoregions for landscape-level or local level projects.
However, depending on the objectives of a particular project, ecoregions may be aggregated within levels of the hierarchy for data analysis and interpretation.
www.npwrc.usgs.gov /resource/habitat/ndsdeco/intro.htm   (389 words)

  
 Welcome to Ecoregions of British Columbia
The Ecoregion Classification System was adopted by the Wildlife Branch in 1985 to serve as a framework for recognizing small scale ecosystems in British Columbia.
Within each terrestrial ecoregion, climatic zones occur where specific soils, plant and animal communities and aquatic systems develop because of the interaction of climate with the land surface and surficial materials.
An ecoregion is an area with major physiographic and minor macroclimatic or oceanographic variation.
srmwww.gov.bc.ca /ecology/ecoregions/index.html   (916 words)

  
 How we work: using 200 priority ecoregions   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
WWF defines an ecoregion as a "large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species, natural communities, and environmental conditions".
The boundaries of an ecoregion are not fixed and sharp, but rather encompass an area within which important ecological and evolutionary processes most strongly interact.
In 1997, WWF embarked on ecoregion conservation as a response to the increased pace of degradation of the world’s endangered habitats and species.
www.wwfint.com /about_wwf/how_we_work/conservation/ecoregions.cfm   (202 words)

  
 Aquatic ecoregions of the conterminous United States
Ecoregions are based on perceived patterns of a combination of causal and integrative factors including land use, land surface form, potential natural vegetation, and soils (Omernik, 1987).
The ecoregions were plotted on a terminal to ensure the EXPORT file was imported properly.
The ecoregion coverage is superimposed upon a coverage of states.
water.usgs.gov /GIS/metadata/usgswrd/XML/ecoregion.xml   (356 words)

  
 Locating and Characterizing the Borders Between Ecoregions Using Multivariate Geographic Clustering
One set of familiar and useful ecoregions is the map of USDA Plant Hardiness Zones, which gardeners use to select plants and shrubs which are appropriate for landscaping within particular areas of the United States.
Locating borders between ecoregions is truly a multivariate decision process which must make reference to a number of large geographic data sets, one for each environmental condition which is to be considered.
The random orientation and meandering character of the contours near the red Coastal Plain and kelly green Piedmont ecoregions in southern Alabama clearly indicate that this border is an ecopause.
research.esd.ornl.gov /~hnw/borders   (3735 words)

  
 WWF | Conservation Science | Ecoregions
The Conservation Science Program has identified 825 terrestrial ecoregions across the globe, and a set of approximately 500 freshwater ecoregions is under development (WWF has not yet developed an analogous global framework of marine ecoregions).
WWF has assessed these ecoregions and identified the Global 200 -- the most biologically distinct terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecoregions of the planet.
Within these priority ecoregions, WWF pursues ecoregion conservation, a unique, broad-scale approach to develop and implement a comprehensive strategy that conserves the species, habitats, and ecological processes of the ecoregion.
www.worldwildlife.org /science/ecoregions.cfm   (285 words)

  
 A New High-Resolution National Map of Multivariate Vegetation Ecoregions
A parallel supercomputer was used to divide the conterminous 48 states of the United States into 1000, 2000, 3000, 5000, and 7000 ecoregions with relatively homogeneous values of elevation, edaphic, and climatic variables using an iterative multivariate clustering technique.
Ecoregions have proven to be a useful concept to ecologists, and many variants of ecoregions have been developed.
Omernick's 1987 aquatic ecoregions were based on perceived patterns of land use, land surface form, potential natural vegetation, and soils.
research.esd.ornl.gov /~hnw/esri98   (3118 words)

  
 Ecoregions Text
The ecoregions defined in the maps are based on the premise that ecological regions can be identified through the analysis of the patterns and composition of biotic and abiotic components.
The climate of the Coastal Uplands ecoregion is marine-influenced with an extended winter rainy season, enough fog during the summer dry season to reduce vegetal moisture stress, and a lack of seasonal temperature extremes.
The Umpqua Cascades ecoregion is a transitional zone between the lusher and moister forests of Ecoregions 4a and 4b to the north.
geography.uoregon.edu /infographics/lcweb/ecotext.htm   (976 words)

  
 APPENDIX F -- ECOREGIONS, REFERENCE CONDITIONS, AND INDEX CALIBRATION
The delineation of ecoregions is based on patterns in geology, soils, geomorphology, dominant land uses, and natural vegetation.
At the ecoregion scale, units are recognized by differences in global continental and regional climatic regimes and physiography.
An example of an ongoing effort to subdivide ecoregions is the U.S. Geological Survey/USEPA Region 3 project in the Central Appalachian Ridge and Valley ecoregion of West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
water.usgs.gov /wicp/appendixes/AppendF.html   (4361 words)

  
 Ecoregions of the NYC Source Water Areas
Ecoregion differences play a major role in determining which streams have been affected or are susceptible to acidic deposition, mine drainage, and nonpoint source problems.
Many of the boundaries of these ecoregions are transitional, and the ecoregion map should be interpreted with that in mind.
Ecoregion descriptions follow and include differentiating criteria; their detail varies and depends on available information.
www.stroudcenter.org /research/nyproject/Ecoregions.htm   (376 words)

  
 A NATIONAL ECOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CANADA - OVERVIEW
For example, the boundary between the Cape Breton Barrens ecodistrict and the adjacent Cape Breton Plateau ecodistrict is due primarily to the lack of vegetation caused by exposure to extreme climatic conditions and shallow soil.
A subdivision of an ecoregion characterized by a distinctive assemblages of relief, landforms, geology, soil, vegetation, water bodies and fauna.
Ecoregion map unit polygons are numbered from 1 to 217.
sis.agr.gc.ca /cansis/nsdb/ecostrat/intro.html   (2463 words)

  
 Boreal Forest - Ecoregions - Sierra Club
Although, the boreal forest conjures up images of vast pristine wilderness, an unending expanse of conifers in an area that has been left untouched by human interference and industrial development, it is increasingly threatened by a range of resource extraction and other activities.
In North America, the boreal ecoregion extends from Alaska to Newfoundland, bordering the tundra to the north and touching the Great Lakes to the south.
Fire is a crucial disturbance factor in the boreal ecoregion.
www.sierraclub.org /ecoregions/boreal.asp   (877 words)

  
 Encyclopedia: Ecoregions of the Philippines   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
The ecoregions of the Philippines are defined primarily by the sea levels during the Ice Ages, which were 120 meters lower than at present, as billions of gallons of water were locked away in huge continental ice sheets.
The lack of a land bridge to the Asian continent prevented most of the Asian megafauna, including elephants, rhinoceros, tapirs, tigers, leopards, and gibbons, from reaching the Philippines, although they do inhabit the adjacent Indonesian islands of Sundaland, which were formerly linked to the Asian continent by lowered sea levels.
The other main factor that defines the Philippine ecoregions is elevation; the high mountains of Luzon and Mindanao host distinct montane rain forest ecoregions.
www.nationmaster.com /encyclopedia/Ecoregions-of-the-Philippines   (509 words)

  
 Great Lakes Assessment   (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-22)
We use relative rather than absolute abundance to account for differences in ecoregion size and the fact that varying portions of each ecoregion were sampled.
The Upland Grass/Agland category was the most variable cover type: ecoregions in the southern tier of the study area (212Jd, 212Jg, 222Mc, and 212Kb) had 30 to 50% of their total area in Grass/Agland.
Ecoregions of the Chequamegon scene (with the exception of 212Jg) ranged from 30 to 50% Northern Hardwoods.
oden.nrri.umn.edu /gla/spatial.htm   (795 words)

  
 A Spatial Clustering Technique for the Identification of Customizable Ecoregions
Each of the ecoregions will be relatively homogeneous with regard to the combination of variables used to generate them.
Omernick's 1987 aquatic ecoregions were based on perceived patterns of a combination of causal and integrative factors, including land use, land surface form, potential natural vegetation, and soils.
Our ecoregions would be divided based on multivariate geographic clustering of 6 variables important to tree growth: annual temperature, annual precipitation, and elevation, and some soil parameters - plant-available water content, total organic matter, and total Kjeldahl nitrogen in the soil.
gis.esri.com /library/userconf/proc97/proc97/to250/pap226/p226.htm   (2538 words)

  
 Environmental Protection Agency
Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources.
There are 7 level III ecoregions and 44 level IV ecoregions in Alabama and Georgia and most continue into ecologically similar parts of adjacent states.
The level III and IV ecoregion map on this poster was compiled at a scale of 1:250,000 and depicts revisions and subdivisions of earlier level III ecoregions that were originally compiled at a smaller scale (USEPA 2000; Omernik 1987).
www.epa.gov /wed/pages/ecoregions/alga_eco.htm   (1132 words)

  
 Bailey Ecoregions of the Continents (reprojected)
Ecoregions of the Continents characterizes global potential natural vegetation at approximately 1/2-degree resolution.
Bailey Ecoregions of the Continents (Province) reprojected by resampling from an undocumented projection to geodetic coordinates at the World Conservation Monitoring Center using coastal control points.
Bailey Ecoregions of the Continents (Division) reprojected by resampling from an undocumented projection to geodetic coordinates at the World Conservation Monitoring Center using coastal control points.
www.ngdc.noaa.gov /seg/cdroms/EcosystemsB/datasets/bec/bec.htm   (2306 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)

Factbites
  About us   |   Why use us?   |   Reviews   |   Press   |   Contact us  
Copyright © 2005-2007 www.factbites.com Usage implies agreement with terms.