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Marine Ecoregions
A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeography, biogeographic characteristics. Introduction A more complete definition describes them as “Areas of relatively homogeneous species composition, clearly distinct from adjacent systems” dominated by “a small number of ecosystems and/or a distinct suite of oceanographic or topographic features”. Ecologically they “are strongly cohesive units, sufficiently large to encompass ecological or life history processes for most sedentary species.”Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–58/ref> Marine Ecoregions of the World—MEOW The global classification system Marine Ecoregions of the World—MEOW was devised by an international team, including major conservation organizations, academic in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biomes
A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community (ecology), community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Arthur Tansley, Tansley added the climatic and soil aspects to the idea, calling it ''ecosystem''. The International Biological Program (1964–74) projects popularized the concept of biome. However, in some contexts, the term ''biome'' is used in a different manner. In German literature, particularly in the Heinrich Walter, Walter terminology, the term is used similarly as ''biotope'' (a concrete geographical unit), while the biome definition used in this article is used as an international, non-regional, terminology—irrespectively of the continent in which an area is present, it takes the same biome name—and corresponds to his "zonobiome", "orobiome" and "pedobiome" (biomes determined by climate zone, altitude or soil). In the Brazilia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biogeographic Realm
A biogeographic realm is the broadest biogeography, biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial animal, terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. A biogeographic realm is also known as "ecozone", although that term may also refer to ecoregions. Description The realms delineate large areas of Earth's surface within which organisms have evolved in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated by geographic features, such as oceans, broad deserts, or high mountain ranges, that constitute natural barriers to migration. As such, biogeographic realm designations are used to indicate general groupings of organisms based on their shared biogeography. Biogeographic realms correspond to the phytochorion, floristic kingdoms of botany or zoogeography, zoogeographic regions of zoology. From 1872, Alfred Russel Wallace developed a system of zoogeographic regions, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) is an ecological and geographic area that exists on multiple different levels, defined by type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation (largely undefined at this point). Ecoregions are also known as "ecozones" ("ecological zones"), although that term may also refer to biogeographic realms. Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches. Firstly, no single bio-geographic fram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species Composition
Relative species abundance is a component of biodiversity and is a measure of how common or rare a species is relative to other species in a defined location or community.Hubbell, S. P. 2001. ''The unified neutral theory of biodiversity and biogeography''. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. Relative abundance is the percent composition of an organism of a particular kind relative to the total number of organisms in the area. Relative species abundance (ecology), abundances tend to conform to specific patterns that are among the best-known and most-studied patterns in macroecology. Different populations in a community exist in relative proportions; this idea is known as relative abundance. Introduction Relative species abundance Relative species abundance and species richness describe key elements of biodiversity. Relative species abundance refers to how common or rare a species is relative to other species in a given location or community.McGill, B. J., Etienne R. S., Gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the species distribution, distribution of species and ecosystems in geography, geographic space and through evolutionary history of life, geological time. Organisms and biological community (ecology), communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, allopatric speciation, isolation and habitat species-area curve, area. Phytogeography is the branch of biogeography that studies the distribution of plants. Zoogeography is the branch that studies distribution of animals. Mycogeography is the branch that studies distribution of fungi, such as mushrooms. Knowledge of spatial variation in the numbers and types of organisms is as vital to us today as it was to our early human ancestors, as we adapt to heterogeneous but geographically predictable Natural environment, environments. Biogeography is an integrative field of inquiry that unites concepts and information from ecology, evolutionary biology, taxonomy (bio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the second-smallest of the five principal oceanic divisions, smaller than the Pacific Ocean, Pacific, Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic and Indian Ocean, Indian oceans, and larger than the Arctic Ocean. The maximum depth of the Southern Ocean, using the definition that it lies south of 60th parallel, was surveyed by the Five Deeps Expedition in early February 2019. The expedition's multibeam sonar team identified the deepest point at 60° 28' 46"S, 025° 32' 32"W, with a depth of . The expedition leader and chief submersible pilot Victor Vescovo, has proposed naming this deepest point the "Factorian Deep", based on the name of the crewed submersible ''DSV Limiting Factor'', in which he successfully visited the bottom for the first time on February 3, 2019 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperate Australasia
Temperate Australasia is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of Australia and New Zealand, including both the Indian Ocean and Pacific coasts of the continent and adjacent islands. It is a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's oceans.Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al'' (2007). "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". ''Bioscience'' Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–58/ref> Temperate Australasia encompasses the western, southern, and southeastern coasts of Australia, and Tasmania. The tropical waters of northern Australia are part of the Central Indo-Pacific marine realm. Temperate Australasia includes New Zealand's North and South Islands, the Kermadec Islands, Chatham Island, and Snares Island. The rest of New Zealand's subantarctic islands are part of the Southern Ocean realm. In large parts of the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperate Southern Africa
Temperate Southern Africa is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate waters of southern Africa, where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean meet. It is a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's oceans. It includes the coastal and continental shelf waters of South Africa and Namibia, and reaches to southern Angola. It also includes the remote islands of Amsterdam and Saint-Paul, to the east in the southern Indian Ocean.Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al.'' "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". ''Bioscience'' Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–58/ref> The boundary between the Temperate Southern Africa and Western Indo-Pacific marine realms is near Lake St. Lucia, in South Africa near the border with Mozambique. The realm extends up the Atlantic coast of Africa to Tômbua in southern Angola, where it transitions to the Tropical A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperate South America
Temperate South America is a biogeography, biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate and subtropical waters of South America, including both the Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coasts of the continent and adjacent islands. It also includes the remote Gough Island and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's ocean basins.Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al.'' "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". ''Bioscience'' Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–58/ref> On the Atlantic coast, Temperate South America transitions to the Tropical Atlantic marine realm near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. On the Pacific coast, it extends to Punta Aguja in northern Peru, where it transitions to the Tropical Eastern Pacific realm. To the south lies the Southern Ocean. The Atlantic coast is i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tropical Eastern Pacific
The Tropical Eastern Pacific is one of the twelve marine realms that cover the coastal waters and continental shelves of the world's oceans. The Tropical Eastern Pacific extends along the Pacific Coast of the Americas, from the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in the north to northern Peru in the south. It is bounded on the north by the Temperate Northern Pacific realm, and on the south by the Temperate South America realm. It includes a number of oceanic islands and oceanic island groups like the Galápagos Islands, Revillagigedo Islands, Cocos Island, and Clipperton Island. Clipperton has been labelled as a meeting point between the Oceanian realm and the Tropical Eastern Pacific realm. The Galápagos Islands are also believed to have much higher percentages of Indo-West Pacific species in their marine faunas when compared to the continental American coasts. A 2018 study revealed interconnectivity of species between the Line Islands, Hawaii and Clipperton, as we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Indo-Pacific
The Eastern Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters around island groups in the central Pacific Ocean. It includes most of Polynesia, except for New Zealand and the Kermadec Islands. It also includes the Marshall Islands and Kiribati from Micronesia. It adjoins the Central Indo-Pacific realm to the west, which encompasses Melanesia and the other island groups of Micronesia.Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al'' (2007). "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". ''Bioscience'' Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–58/ref> The Eastern Indo-Pacific is a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's ocean basins. Subdivisions The Eastern Indo-Pacific marine realm is divided into six marine provinces. Three provinces are further divided into marine ecoregions. * Hawaii province ** Hawaii * Marshall, Gilbert, and Ellice Islands p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Indo-Pacific
The Central Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean, and the connecting seas. The Central Indo-Pacific is a part of the larger Indo-Pacific, which includes the tropical Indian Ocean, the western and central tropical Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia. The Central Indo-Pacific may be classified as a marine realm, one of the great biogeographic divisions of the world's ocean basins, or as a subrealm of the Indo-Pacific.Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson ''et al.'' "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". ''Bioscience'' Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–583/ref> The Central Indo-Pacific realm covers eastern shores of the tropical Indian Ocean, including most of the Indian Ocean coast of the Indonesian archipelago, the northern Australian coast, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
