Marine ecoregions

Marine ecoregions are ecoregions (ecological regions) of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on 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.”^[1]

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 institutions and intergovernmental organizations. ^[1] The digital ecoregions layer is available for download as an ArcGIS Shapefile. ^[2]

This system has a strong biogeographic basis, but was designed to aid in conservation activities for marine ecosystems.

Subdivisions

Ecoregions

The Marine Ecoregions of the World classification defines 232 marine ecoregions (e.g. Adriatic Sea, Cortezian, Ningaloo, Ross Sea) for the coastal and shelf waters of the world.

Provinces

These marine ecoregions form part of a nested system and are grouped into 62 provinces (e.g. the South China Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Central Indian Ocean Islands).

Realms

The provinces in turn, are grouped into 12 major realms. The latter are considered analogous to the eight terrestrial ecozones, represent large regions of the ocean basins:

Arctic
Temperate Northern Atlantic
Temperate Northern Pacific
Tropical Atlantic
Western Indo-Pacific
Central Indo-Pacific
Eastern Indo-Pacific
Tropical Eastern Pacific
Temperate South America
Temperate Southern Africa
Temperate Australasia
Southern Ocean

Other marine ecoregion classifications

Other classifications of marine ecoregions or equivalent areas have been widely developed at national and regional levels, as well as a small number of global schemes.

Each of these systems, along with numerous regional biogeographic classifications, was used to inform the MEOW system. The WWF Global 200 work also identifies a number of major habitat types that correspond to the terrestrial biomes: polar, temperate shelves and seas, temperate upwelling, tropical upwelling, tropical coral, pelagic (trades and westerlies), abyssal, and hadal (ocean trench).

Briggs Coastal Provinces

One of the most comprehensive early classifications was the system of 53 coastal provinces developed by Briggs in 1974.^[3] The near-global system of 64 large marine ecosystems has a partial biogeographic basis.

WWF Global 200

The World Wildlife Fund—WWF identified 43 priority marine ecoregions, as part of its Global 200 efforts.^[4]

References

1 2 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.:http://www.nature.org/tncscience/files/spalding.pdf
↑ MEOW digital ecoregions layer: ArcGIS Shapefile download link
↑ Briggs JC (1974) Marine Zoogeography. McGraw-Hill, New York, USA
↑ Olson DM, Dinerstein E. 2002; "The Global 200: priority ecoregions for conservation"; Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 89: 199-224

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marine ecosystems.

Nature.org: Marine Ecoregions of the World—MEOW

Aquatic ecosystem topics

Aquatic ecosystems – general and freshwater components

General	Acoustic ecology Adaptation Agent-based models Algal bloom Anoxic waters Aquatic animals (Insects Mammals) Aquatic plants Aquatic science Benthos Biodiversity research Bioluminescence Biomass Biomonitoring Cascade effect Colored dissolved organic matter Camouflage and mimicry Dead zone Ecohydrology Ecosystems Eutrophication Fisheries science Food chain Food web GIS and aquatic science Hydrobiology Hypoxia Isotope analysis Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial loop Nekton Neuston Particle Pelagic zone Photic zone Phytoplankton Plankton Pleuston Predation Productivity Ramsar Convention Respiration Schooling Sediment trap Siltation Spawning Substrate Thermal pollution Toxicology Trophic level Water column Zooplankton More...

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Marine ecoregions

Introduction