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Greg Osmond
May 10, 2013 09:05PM

I was watching two Minke whales for one hour today near my home in Woody Point, ...
Melvin Lusterio
May 09, 2013 08:05PM

The Good Force be with you! Well done, Team Curiosity! Keep it up! Live fo...
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amazing !
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Documentation on the Seine barges in the 17th century is scant, but apparently m...

Ecoregions

Ecoregions

An ecoregion is a contiguous area characterized by well defined similarity in flora and fauna as well as geomorphology, climate and soils; ecoregions are generally relatively large geographic units on the order of 50,000 square kilometers or more. Ecoregions may be terrestrial or marine, and do not recognize any political boundaries or landscape alterations by humans. Generally an ecoregion is depicted by a geographic descriptor coupled with a biome identity, further articulating one or more specific climatic or dominant plant community appellations: for example, Chilean Mattoral or Madagascar Dry Deciduous Forests.

There are several alternative formal naming schemes for the Earth's ecoregions; one of the most widely used, developed by the World Wildlife Foundation, recognizes 867 separate ecoregions. Because of the very large scale of an ecoregion, the landscape is not monolithic, but may have pockets of ecological diversity; however, the ecoregion is defined by its preponderant vegetative, geological and meteorological composition.  Correspondingly boundaries between regions are sometimes diffuse, resulting in a broad ecotone.

 

    • Magellanic subpolar forests Featured Article Magellanic subpolar forests Magellanic subpolar forests

      The Magellanic subpolar forests is an ecoregion dominated by trees of the genus Nothofagus; this geographic zone covers the western part of the southern end of South... More »

    • Belizean pine forests Featured Article Belizean pine forests Belizean pine forests

      The Belizean pine forests on Central America's northwestern Caribbean coast represent various relatively well preserved fragments of vegetation as well as a considerable... More »

    • Ecoregions of Chile Featured Article Ecoregions of Chile Ecoregions of Chile

      Chile has eight ecoregions that occur entirely or partly within its borders on the mainland and three ecorgions offshore: Sechura desert Atacama... More »

    • Borneo peat swamp forests Featured Article Borneo peat swamp forests Borneo peat swamp forests

      Although the Borneo peat swamp forests are not as biodiverse as neighbouring lowland rainforests, the Borneo Peat Swamp Forests are some of the most speciose peat... More »

    • Great Victoria Desert Featured Article Great Victoria Desert Great Victoria Desert

      A vast, sparsely populated region covered by dunefields and gibber plains, the Great Victoria Desert receives little rain and experiences extreme temperatures. A highly... More »

    • Kalahari xeric savanna Featured Article Kalahari xeric savanna Kalahari xeric savanna

      The Kalahari xeric savanna is an ecoregion in southern Africa characterized by a harsh climate, where temperatures may increase by 45°C from night to day, and rainfall is... More »

    • Namibian savanna woodlands Featured Article Namibian savanna woodlands Namibian savanna woodlands

      The Namibian Savanna Woodland ecoregion covers the Great Escarpment that delimits the interior of Southern Africa from the Kaokoveld and Namib Deserts. This broken and deeply... More »

    • Moist Pacific Coast mangroves Featured Article Moist Pacific Coast mangroves Moist Pacific Coast mangroves

      The Moist Pacific Coast mangroves is an ecoregion along the Pacific coast of Costa Rica with a large number of embayments that provide shelter from wind and waves,... More »

Recently Updated
Western Java rainforests Last Updated on 2013-05-25 at 23:43 The Western Java rainforests are found on one of the most active volcanic islands in the world. Once the home of the extinct Javan Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaicus), these... More »
Temperate rainforests Last Updated on 2013-05-25 at 21:50 This article draws upon the work of numerous writers, published by Ecotrust in the cited works below, and was also contributed to by Malka Geffen of Ecotrust.... More »
Northwestern thorn scrub forests Last Updated on 2013-05-25 at 15:23 The Northwestern thorn scrub forests ecoregion represents a large expanse of degraded dry forest surrounding the Thar Desert. Neither exceptionally species-rich nor high in... More »
Sulu Archipelago rainforests Last Updated on 2013-05-25 at 14:29 Although these islands represent transitional stepping stones from the island of Borneo to Mindanao in the Philippines, they have evolved their own distinctive faunas. The Sulu... More »
Panamá Last Updated on 2013-05-24 at 13:23 Panama is a nation of three-and-a-half million people, located between Costa Rica to the north and Columbia to the south. Panama connects the continental land masses of... More »
Sumatran lowland rainforests Last Updated on 2013-05-24 at 00:32 The Sumatran lowland rainforests are one of the most diverse forests on Earth and also among the most threatened. These forests contain comparable levels of More »
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