[pf] 8 biogeographic realms containing 867 ecoregions, in the world

· You may wish to imagine what your area was like before people changed it.
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· On my:
http://davd.tripod.com/APRR-011109.html#11-07-09
 is the ENS report:
         New World Map Gives Scientists New Conservation Tool {original at:
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-09.html } :-

 - A new bio-geographic map of the world depicts the complexity of life on
Earth in more detail than ever before, giving scientists a new tool for
better understanding the distribution of biodiversity. 

The product of eight years of research by scientists at the World Wildlife
Fund, the map paints a more intricate and complete portrait of terrestrial
life on Earth than scientists have had to date. As such, it can aid in the
understanding of biodiversity loss, the relationships between ecoregions
and the complexity of the web of life that spans them, said Dr. David
Olson, director of conservation science at World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 

"Bio-geographic maps form the foundation for all conservation planning at
the ecoregional scale, but the problem with existing versions is that they
lack sufficient resolution to accurately reflect the complex distribution
of natural communities," said Olson, who is the lead coauthor of the study
along with Dr. Eric Dinerstein, chief scientist at WWF. 

"The new map increases this resolution roughly four fold, allowing us to
zoom in for a much closer and more detailed look at the distribution of
life," Olson added. "For the first time, we have the equivalent of the
Hubble telescope through which to look at life on Earth." 

"Existing maps of global biodiversity have been ineffective planning tools
because they divide the Earth into extremely coarse biodiversity units...
well beyond the size of landscapes tractable for designing networks of
conservation areas," the authors write in an article published in the
November issue of "BioScience," the journal of the American Institute of
Biological Sciences. 

Building on those previous efforts, and incorporating data collected by
more than 1,500 experts around the world over the past several years, the
new map divides the terrestrial world into 14 biomes and eight
biogeographic realms containing 867 ecoregions. This is more than four
times the 193 terrestrial ecoregions depicted on the most detailed global
bio-geographic maps to date. 

"It was not unlike assembling a fantastically complex jigsaw puzzle.
Researchers around the world have provided us with the pieces and what the
map does is to assemble them all into an overall picture," Dinerstein said.
"The result is a data base that that will allow researchers to examine
phenomena like species richness and endemism, biodiversity loss and global
environmental threats in greater detail than before." 

More information is available at:
http://www.wwfus.org/ecoregions/index.htm

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· Those 8 biogeographic realms are:
Australasia
Antarctic
Afrotropic
Indo-Malayan 
Nearctic
Neotropic
Oceania
Palearctic  

· For the North American ("Nearctic") biogeographic realm, 
the 137 ecoregions are:

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_Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests_
 
Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest  

_Tropical & Subtropical Coniferous Forests_
 
Bermuda subtropical conifer forests
Sierra Madre Occidental pine-oak forests
Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests  

_Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests_
 
Allegheny Highlands forests
Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests
Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests
Central U.S. hardwood forests
East Central Texas forests
Eastern forest-boreal transition
Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests
Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests
Mississippi lowland forests
New England-Acadian forests
Northeastern coastal forests
Ozark Mountain forests
Southeastern mixed forests
Southern Great Lakes forests
Upper Midwest forest-savanna transition
Western Great Lakes forests
Willamette Valley forests  

_Temperate Coniferous Forests_
 
Alberta Mountain forests
Alberta-British Columbia foothills forests
Arizona Mountains forests
Atlantic coastal pine barrens
Blue Mountains forests
British Columbia mainland coastal forests
Cascade Mountains leeward forests
Central and Southern Cascades forests
Central British Columbia Mountain forests
Central Pacific coastal forests
Colorado Rockies forests
Eastern Cascades forests
Florida sand pine scrub
Fraser Plateau and Basin complex
Great Basin montane forests
Klamath-Siskiyou forests
Middle Atlantic coastal forests
North Central Rockies forests
Northern California coastal forests
Northern Pacific coastal forests
Northern transitional alpine forests
Okanagan dry forests
Piney Woods forests
Puget lowland forests
Queen Charlotte Islands
Sierra Juarez and San Pedro Martir pine-oak forests
Sierra Nevada forests
South Central Rockies forests
Southeastern conifer forests
Wasatch and Uinta montane forests  

_Boreal-Forests/Taiga_
 
Alaska Peninsula montane taiga
Central Canadian Shield forests
Cook Inlet taiga
Copper Plateau taiga
Eastern Canadian forests
Eastern Canadian Shield taiga
Interior Alaska-Yukon lowland taiga
Mid-Continental Canadian forests
Midwestern Canadian Shield forests
Muskwa-Slave Lake forests
Newfoundland Highland forests
Northern Canadian Shield taiga
Northern Cordillera forests
Northwest Territories taiga
South Avalon-Burin oceanic barrens
Southern Hudson Bay taiga
Yukon Interior dry forests  

_Tropical & Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, & Shrublands_
 
Western Gulf coastal grasslands 

_Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, & Shrublands_
 
California Central Valley grasslands
Canadian Aspen forests and parklands
Central and Southern mixed grasslands
Central forest-grasslands transition
Central tall grasslands
Edwards Plateau savanna
Flint Hills tall grasslands
Montana Valley and Foothill grasslands
Nebraska Sand Hills mixed grasslands
Northern mixed grasslands
Northern short grasslands
Northern tall grasslands
Palouse grasslands
Texas blackland prairies
Western short grasslands  

_Tundra_
 
Alaska/St.-Elias-Range tundra
Aleutian Islands tundra
Arctic coastal tundra
Arctic foothills tundra
Baffin coastal tundra
Beringia lowland tundra
Beringia upland tundra
Brooks-British Range tundra
Davis Highlands tundra
High Arctic tundra
Interior Yukon-Alaska alpine tundra
Kalaallit Nunaat high arctic tundra
Kalaallit Nunaat low arctic tundra
Low Arctic tundra
Middle Arctic tundra
Ogilvie-MacKenzie alpine tundra
Pacific Coastal Mountain icefields and tundra
Torngat Mountain tundra  

_Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, & Shrub_
 
California coastal sage and chaparral
California interior chaparral and woodlands
California montane chaparral and woodlands  

_Deserts & Xeric Shrublands_
 
Baja California desert
Central Mexican matorral
Chihuahuan desert
Colorado Plateau shrublands
Great Basin shrub steppe
Gulf of California xeric scrub
Meseta Central matorral
Mojave desert
Snake-Columbia shrub steppe
Sonoran desert
Tamaulipan matorral
Tamaulipan mezquital
Wyoming Basin shrub steppe  

_Mangrove_
 
Northwest Mexican Coast mangroves 

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David.
David MacClement [davd @ ihug.co.nz] (remove spaces)
http://davd.tripod.com/GrRR-011109_titles.html#top
http://www.geocities.com/davd.geo/index.html#top
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