Abstract
An initial and comprehensive map of ecological regions across the conterminous United States was provided by Omernik in 1987. Because that paper was the most-cited published by the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, we sought to assess and quantify its contribution to science. To do so, we conducted a scientometric analysis to address the following main questions: 1) What are the temporal and spatial citation trends? We expected that Omernik’s paper would still be employed 36 years after its publication, and mostly in the United States of America. 2) For what types of environments and organisms has it been applied? Based on its generality, we expected that it had been applied to both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. 3) What are the main applications of Omernik’s article? We predicted that it would mostly be used for describing and delineating study sites and management areas, as well as for selecting regional reference sites. The number of citations presented a positive temporal increase, indicating its continued applicability. Most papers dealt with aquatic environments, mainly in streams carried out predominantly in the United States of America, as was one of its earliest applications. The usefulness of ecoregions for assessing and managing biotic and abiotic patterns and distributions were the main topics addressed by scientists. Ecoregions have offered a general framework for developing regional expectations and rational regional management policies across large areas, as was their original intent. In addition, ecoregion maps were used for communicating patterns—or the lack of them—to interested scientists, citizens, and decision-makers. That comprehensiveness of Omernik’s ecoregion approach has led to its widespread applicability and continued usefulness to a diverse set of scientific and management disciplines.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the many scientists and managers who have contributed to developing, testing, criticizing, improving, and applying, ecoregions globally—as documented in this paper. We also thank Glenn Griffith for his critical review of the penultimate manuscript.
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RMH conceived the study for this manuscript with input from RR and ÉAG. RMH and RR provided the data. Most raw data analysis was performed by RR and ÉAG. RMH wrote the first draft, and all authors contributed to writing.
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This study was funded partially by the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement – Finance Code 001 and Fulbright Brazil to RMH.
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Ruaro, R., Gubiani, É.A. & Hughes, R.M. Omernik’s Ecoregion Framework: a Legacy for Understanding Regional Patterns in Attainable Resource Quality. Environmental Management 73, 354–364 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-023-01871-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-023-01871-4