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| Ministry of Environment |
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| Ecology |
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Ecoregions of British Columbia Home
Overview
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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. The Ecoregion Classification helps us to understand and to depict the great habitat diversity of the province. |
Since 1985, the Ecoregion Classification has been revised three times to reflect more detailed mapping. The fourth edition Ecoregion units was originally mapped at 1:250,000 using Landsat, topographic, Biogeoclimatic and marine ecosystem information.
The Ecoregion Classification system is used to stratify British Columbia's terrestrial and marine ecosystem complexity into discrete geographical units at five levels. The two highest levels, Ecodomains and Ecodivisions, are very broad and place British Columbia globally. The three lowest levels, Ecoprovinces, Ecoregions and Ecosections are progressively more detailed and narrow in scope and relate segments of the Province to one another. They describe areas of similar climate, physiography, oceanography, hydrology, vegetation and wildlife potential. 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. These zones are best defined within the Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification system.
Ecological zones in marine ecosystems are products of temperature, salinity, sea-bed configuration and water depth. Each ecosystem is ultimately identified by sampling individual sites. At the lowest level in an ecosystem classification, attention is directed to specific parameters, such as topography, surficial materials, soil development, moisture regime, microclimate, floristics, succession, productivity and animal use. Ecoregions should be thought of as 'big picture' ecosystems. As such the province should be viewed first for its big, all-inclusive landscape chunks, then progressively through more detailed levels, and finally each area of the province has to be viewed with other classifications or the underlying geographical detail. The boundaries between units must by thought of in the same way, broad lines for small scale ecosystems progressing to greater precision for the larger scale ecosytems. For convenience, however, one boundary is used to define all ecosystem levels, from Ecodomain down through to the Biogeoclimatic or marine unit level.
A full and detailed description of the province's ecoregions can be found in Dennis A. Demarchi's report An Introduction to the Ecoregions of British Columbia
Ecoregions Classification Order
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An ecodomain is an area of broad climatic uniformity. There are three terrestrial and one oceanic ecodomain occurring in British Columbia. Ecodomains are meant to be mapped at 1:30,000,000 for use in global environmental strategies.
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An ecodivsion is an area of broad climatic and physiographic uniformity. There are seven ecodivsions occurring within British Columbia. Ecodomains and ecodivsions place British Columbia in a global context. Ecodivsions are meant to be mapped at 1:7,500,000 for use in national state of the environment reporting.
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An ecoprovince is an area with consistent climatic or oceanography, relief and regional landforms. There one oceanic, two marine / terrestrial and seven terrestrial ecoprovinces occurring within British Columbia. Ecoprovinces are meant to be mapped at 1:2,000,000 for use in provincial state of the environment reporting.
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An ecoregion is an area with major physiographic and minor macroclimatic or oceanographic variation. There are 43 ecoregion in British Columbia of which 39 are terrestrial. Ecodivsions are meant to be mapped at 1:500,000 for regional strategic planning.
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Ecosections are areas with minor physiographic and macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. There are 114 ecosections in British Columbia varying from pure marine units to pure terrestrial units. Ecosections are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for resource emphasis and area planning.
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Biogeoclimatic (BGC) units represent classes of ecosystems under the same regional climate. There is a hierarchy of units with the biogeoclimatic subzone being the basic unit. The 76 subzone are grouped into 14 zones and divided into variants and phases, based on similarities and differences in regional climate. Biogeoclimatic units are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for higher-level biodiversity planning and medium to large scales for ecosystem mapping.
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A Broad Ecosystem Unit is a permanent area of the landscape, that supports a distinct kind of dominant vegetative cover or distinct non-negative cover. A Broad Ecosystem Unit is defined as including potential vegetation and any associated seral stages; and are amalgamation of site series. Broad Ecosystem Units are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for use in sub-regional land use planning.
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Ecosystem Units are developed from the site series classification with BGC. Detailed Ecosystem Units are mapped site series. These site are classified by their potential to produce similar plant communities when in a late successional stage. Such sites have similar soil moisture, soil nutrients, texture and aspects. Site series are meant to be mapped at medium to large scales (1:50,000 - 1:20,000) for landscape unit planning, or forest development planning using the Terrestrial Ecosystem Mapping methodology.
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Each ecosystem unit may have a number of different stand ages depending on disturbance history. While the plant communities may vary depending on the stage, a given site series will ultimately result in one kind of climax plant community. Stand structure is usually mapped according to Describing Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Field.
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Each ecosystem / structural stage unit contains considerable variation. Sample sites are established at site that are homogeneous in terms of soil and vegetation attributes. The measurements of physical and biological parameters such as topography, depth and texture of soil, trees, snags, course woody debris, shrubs, herbs, mosses and lichens are used for detailed data analysis. Sites are the basic units identified during field sampling and are scale independent.
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