Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:56:08.968Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A World Ecoregions Map for Resource Reporting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Howard C. Hogg
Affiliation:
Consultant, Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, Arlington, Virginia 22209, USA; formerly Visiting Fellow, World Resources Institute

Extract

An international project is proposed to create a map showing the world subdivided into macroecosystem regions within each of which ecological conditions are relatively uniform but which show certain natural potentials and limitations. The map should tend to supplement the Dasmann-Udvardy system of biogeographical provinces, being of higher resolution and greater ecological relevance. The primary purpose of the map will be to serve as a reporting structure for information about global resources and environment, though it will be based largely on published information.

Maps based on classification of climatic types, vegetation formations, and soil groups, will be synthesized and generalized to delineate the areas to be shown on the ecoregion map. Its delineations will be refined through consultations with local experts, and through the interpretation of low-resolution remote-sensing imagery. The usefulness of the map is considered favourably in relation to national-level policy analysis, environmental monitoring, transfer of agricultural technology, compatibility with remote-sensing systems for monitoring environmental conditions, and agricultural activities, biomass estimation, macroreserve selection, and land management.

Type
Main Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahti, T., Hamet-Ahti, L. & Jalas, J. (1968). Vegetation zones and their sections in northwestern Europe. Annales Botanici Fennici, 5, pp. 169211, illustr.Google Scholar
Bailey, R.G. (1976). Ecoregions of the United States. US Forest Service, Ogden, Utah, USA: 1 map-sheet + text, scale = 1:7,500.000.Google Scholar
Bailey, R.G. (1980). Description of the Ecoregions of the United States. US Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 1391, Washington, DC, USA: iv + 77 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Bailey, R.G. (1983). Delineation of ecosystem regions. Environmental Management, 7, pp. 365–73, illustr.Google Scholar
Bailey, R.G. (1984). Testing an ecosystem regionalization. Journal of Environmental Management, 19, pp. 239–48, illustr.Google Scholar
Bailey, R.G. (1985). The factor of scale in ecosystem mapping. Environmental Management, 9, pp. 271–6, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, R.G. & Cushwa, C.T. (1981). Ecoregions of North America. US Fish and Wildlife Service FWS/OBS-81/29, Washington, DC, USA: 1 map-sheet + text, scale = 1:12,000,000.Google Scholar
Burger, D. (1976). The concept of ecosystem regions in forest site classification. Pp. 213–8 in Proceeding XVI IUFRO World Congress, Division I, 20 June–2 July 1976, Oslo, Norway: 780 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Crowley, J.M. (1967). Biogeography. Canadian Geographer, 11, pp. 312–26, illustr.Google Scholar
Dasmann, R.F. (1972). Towards a system for classifying natural regions of the world and their representation by national parks and reserves. Biological Conservation, 4, pp. 247–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO (1978). Report on the Agro-ecological Zones Project, Vol. I. (Methodology and Results for Africa: World Soil Resources Report No. 48.) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome, Italy: xi + 158 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
FAO/UNESCO (19711978). FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World 1:5 million. North America, South America, Mexico and Central America, Europe, Africa, South Asia, North Asia, South East Asia, Australasia. UNESCO, Paris, France: 20 map-sheets + text, scale = 1:5,000,000.Google Scholar
Franklin, J.F. (1977). The biosphere reserve program in the United States. Science, 195, pp. 262–7, illustr.Google Scholar
Gwynne, M.D. (1982). The global environment monitoring system (GEMS) of UNEP. Environmental Conservation, 9(1), pp. 3541, 4 maps.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, E.H. (1964). Classes of land-surface form in the fortyeight states, USA. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 54, Map Supplement No. 4: 1 map-sheet, scale = 1:5,000,000.Google Scholar
Holdridge, L.R. (1947). Determination of world plant formations from simple climatic data. Science, 105, pp. 367–8, illustr.Google Scholar
ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semiarid Tropics) (1984). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Minimum Data Sets for Agrotechnology Transfer, 21–26 March 1983. ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India: vi + 212 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Köppen, W. (1931). Grundriss der Klimakunde. Walter de Gruyter Co., Berlin, Germany: 388 pp. [not available for checking].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Küchler, A.W. (1964). Potential Natural Vegetation of the Conterminous United States. American Geographical Society Special Publication 36, New York, NY, USA: 1 map-sheet + 38 pp. manual, scale = 1:3,168,000.Google Scholar
Logan, T.L. (1985). An ecoregion-continuum approach to global vegetative biomass estimation. Pp. 483–93 in Tenth W.T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium. (20–22 August 1985, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.) American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Falls Church, Virginia, USA: xxi + 616 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Odum, E.P. (1983). Basic Ecology. Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia-New York-Chicago, etc.: x + 613 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Olson, J.S. & Watts, J.S. (1982). Major world ecosystem complexes. In Carbon in Live Vegetation of Major World Ecosystems. Oak Ridge National Laboratory ORNL-5862, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA: 1 map-sheet, scale = 1:30,000,000.Google Scholar
Polunin, N. (1960). Introduction to Plant Geography and Some Related Sciences. Longmans, London, England, UK: xix + 640 pp., illustr. [including outfolding coloured vegetation map based on a special preparation of A.W. Kuchler in 1958].Google Scholar
Polunin, N. (1984). Our use of ‘Biosphere’, ‘Ecosystem’, and now ‘Ecobiome’. Environmental Conservation, 11(3), p. 198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowe, J.S. (1980). The common denominator of land classification in Canada: an ecological approach to mapping. Forestry Chronicle, 56, pp. 1920.Google Scholar
Rowe, J.S. & Sheard, J.W. (1981). Ecological land classification: a survey approach. Environmental Management, 5, pp. 451–64, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubner, K. & Reinhold, F. (1960). Die pflanzengeographischen Grundlangen des Waldbaues. Neuman Verlag, Radebeul & Berlin: viii + 620 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Shidei, T. (1974). Forest vegetation zones. Pp. 87124 in The Flora of Japan (Ed. Numata, M.). Kodansha Ltd, Tokyo, Japan: 294 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
[Sir]Tansley, A.G. (1935). The use and misuse of vegetation terms and concepts. Ecology, 16, pp. 284307.Google Scholar
Thornthwaite, C.W. (1931). The climates of North America according to a new classification. Geographical Review, 21, pp. 633–55 (with separate map. scale = 1:20.000.000).Google Scholar
Thornthwaite, C.W. (1933). The climates of the earth. Geographical Review, 23, pp. 433–40, illustr. (with separate map, scale = 1:77,000,000).Google Scholar
Trewartha, G.T. (1968). An Introduction to Climate, 4th edn.McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA: vii + 408 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Tucker, C.J., Townshend, J.R.G. & Goff, T.E. (1985). African land-cover classification using satellite data. Science, 227, pp. 369–75, illustr.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Udvardy, M.D.F. (1975 a). A Classification of the Biogeographical Provinces of the World. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Occasional Paper 18, Morges, Switzerland: 48 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Udvardy, M.D.F. (1975 b). World Biogeographical Provinces. The CoEvolution Quarterly, Sausalito, California, USA: 1 map sheet, scale = 1:39,629,000.Google Scholar
UNESCO (1970). Vegetation Map of the Mediterranean Zone. Arid Zone Research, XXX, Paris, France: 2 map-sheets + 90 pp. explanatory note, scale = 1:5.000,000.Google Scholar
UNESCO (1973). International Classification and Mapping of Vegetation. Series 6, Ecology and Conservation, Paris. France: 93 pp. + legend sheet.Google Scholar
UNESCO (1979). Map of the World Distribution of Arid Regions. MAB Technical Notes 7, Paris. France: 1 map-sheet + 54 pp. explanatory note, scale = 1:25,000,000.Google Scholar
Voronov, A.G. & Kucheruk, V.V. (1979). The biotic diversity of the northern hemisphere—problems of study and conservation. Pp. 149–59 in Selection, Management, and Utilization of Biosphere Reserves (Eds Franklin, J.F. & Krugman, S.). USDA Forest Service General Technical Report PNW-82. Portland, Oregon. USA: 308. pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Walter, H. & Box, E. (1976). Global classification of natural terrestrial ecosystems. Vegetatio, 32, pp. 7581, illustr.Google Scholar
Walter, H. & Lieth, H. (19601967). Klimadiagramm Weltatlas. G. Fischer Verlag, Jena, East Germany: maps, diagrams, profiles, etc. [irregular pagination].Google Scholar
Weaver, J.E. & Clements, F.E. (1938). Plant Ecology, 2nd edn.McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, USA: xxii + 601 pp., illustr.Google Scholar