Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Continental Types and Their Controls

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Ecoregions

  • 2466 Accesses

Abstract

The ecoregions on the Earth’s land masses are arranged in predictable patterns and are causally related to macroclimate, i.e., the climate that lies just above the local modifying irregularities of landform and vegetation. These macroclimates are regularly arranged with reference to several controlling factors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In this book tayga, often spelled “taiga,” will be written with a “y” following the Russian.

  2. 2.

    Other methods for mapping zones at the global scale are those of Thornthwaite (1931, 1933), Holdridge (1947), and Walter and Box (1976). All methods appear to work better in some areas than in others and to have gained their own adherents. The Köppen system was chosen as the basis for ecoregion delineation because it has become the international standard for geographical purposes.

References

  • Bailey RG (1976) Map: ecoregions of the United States. USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region, Ogden, UT, Scale 1:7,500,000

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RG (1988) Problems with using overlay mapping for planning and their implications for geographic information systems. Environ Manage 12:11–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RG (1989) Explanatory supplement to ecoregions map of the continents. Environ Conserv 16:307–309, with separate map at 1:30,000,000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RG (1994) Map: ecoregions of the United States (rev.). USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC, Scale 1:7,500,000

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RG (1998) Ecoregions map of North America: explanatory note. Miscellaneous Publication 1548. USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC, 10 pp, with separate map at 1:15,000,000

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RG (2004) Identifying ecoregion boundaries. Environ Manage 34(Suppl 1):S14–S26

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RG (2009) Ecosystem geography: from ecoregions to sites, 2nd edn. Springer, New York, NY, 251 pp

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bernert JA, Eilers JM, Sullivan TJ, Freemark KE, Ribic C (1997) A quantitative method for delineating regions: an example from the Western Corn Belts Ecoregions of the USA. Environ Manage 21:405–420

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonan GB (2002) Ecological climatology: concepts and applications. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 678 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • de Candolle APA (1874) Constitution Dans le Regne Vegetal de Groupes Physiologiques Applicables a la Geographie Ancienne et Moderne. Archives des Science Physiques et Naturelles, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallant AL, Binnian EF, Omernik JM, Shasby MB (1995) Ecoregions of Alaska. Professional Paper 1567. US Geological Survey, Washington, DC, with separate map at 1:5,000,000

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerasimov IP (ed) (1964) Types of natural landscapes of the earth’s land areas. Plate 75. In: Fiziko-geograficheskii atlas mira (physico-geographic atlas of the world). USSR Academy of Science and Main Administration of Geodesy and Cartography, Moscow. Scale 1:80,000,000

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosz JR, Sharpe PJH (1989) Broad-scale concepts for interactions of climate, topography, and biota at biome transitions. Landsc Ecol 3:229–243

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harding JS, Winterbourn MJ, McDiffett WF (1997) Stream fauna and ecoregions in South Island, New Zealand: do they correspond? Arch Hydrobiol 140(3):289–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Hargrove WW, Luxmore RJ (1998) A clustering technique for the generation of customizable ecoregions. In: Proceedings ESRI Arc/INFO users conference. http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc97/proc97/TO250/pap226/p226.htm

  • Hidore JJ (1974) Physical geography: earth systems. Scott, Foresman and Co., Glenview, IL, 418 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Holdridge LR (1947) Determination of world plant formations from simple climatic data. Science 105:367–368

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Host GE, Polzer PL, Mladenoff DJ, White MA, Crow TR (1996) A quantitative approach to developing regional ecosystem classifications. Ecol Appl 6:608–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James PE (1959) A geography of man, 2nd edn. Ginn, Boston, MA, 656 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Jepson P, Whittaker RJ (2002) Ecoregions in context: a critique with special reference to Indonesia. Conserv Biol 16:42–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Köppen W (1931) Grundriss der Klimakunde. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 388 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Küchler AW (1964) Potential natural vegetation of the conterminous United States. Special Publication 36. American Geographical Society, New York, NY, 116 pp, with separate map at 1:3,168,000

    Google Scholar 

  • Küchler AW (1973) Problems in classifying and mapping vegetation for ecological regionalization. Ecology 54:512–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMahon G, Gregonis SM, Waltman SW, Omernik JM et al (2001) Developing a spatial framework of common ecological regions for the conterminous United States. Environ Manage 28:293–316

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • The Nature Conservancy (1997) Designing a geography of hope: guidelines for ecoregion-based conservation in The Nature Conservancy. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA, 84 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson DM, Dinerstein E, Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND et al (2001) Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on earth. Bioscience 51(11):933–938

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omernik JM (1987) Ecoregions of the conterminous United States (map supplement). Ann Assoc Am Geogr 77:118–125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omernik JM (2004) Perspectives on the nature and definition of ecological regions. Environ Manage 34(S1):S27–S38

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Omernik JM, Bailey RG (1997) Distinguishing between watersheds and ecoregions. J Am Water Resour Assoc 33:1–15

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmithüsen J (1976) Atlas zur biogeographie. Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim-Wien-Zurich, 88 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz J (1995) The ecozones of the world: the ecological divisions of the geosphere (trans: from German by I. and D Jordan). Springer, Heidelberg, 449 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Strahler AN, Strahler AH (1989) Elements of physical geography, 4th edn. Wiley, New York, NY, 562 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Thornthwaite CW (1931) The climates of North America according to a new classification. Geogr Rev 21:633–655, with separate map at 1:20,000,000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thornthwaite CW (1933) The climates of the earth. Geogr Rev 23:433–440, with separate map at 1:77,000,000

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trewartha GT (1968) An introduction to climate, 4th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 408 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Trewartha GT, Robinson AH, Hammond EH (1967) Physical elements of geography, 5th edn. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 527 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Troll C (1966) Seasonal climates of the earth. The seasonal course of natural phenomena in the different climatic zones of the earth. In: Rodenwaldt E, Jusatz HJ (eds) World maps of climatology, 3rd edn. Springer, Berlin, pp 19–28, with separate map at 1:45,000,000 by C. Troll and K.H. Paffen

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, (1938) Soils and men, 1938 yearbook of agriculture. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1232 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Survey Staff (1975) Soil taxonomy: a basic system for making and interpreting soil surveys. Agriculture handbook 436. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, 754 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter H (1984) Vegetation of the earth and ecological systems of the geo-biosphere [trans: from German by Muise O], 3rd rev enlarged edn. Springer, Berlin, 318 pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter H, Box E (1976) Global classification of natural terrestrial ecosystems. Vegetatio 32:75–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walter H, Harnickell E, Mueller-Dombois D (1975) Climate-diagram maps of the individual continents and the ecological climatic regions of the earth. Springer, Berlin, 36 pp, with 9 maps

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter H, Lieth H (1960–1967) Klimadiagramm weltatlas. Jena: G. Fischer. Maps, diagrams, profiles. Irregular pagination.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Y, Narumalani S, Waltman WJ, Waltman SW, Palecki MA (2003) A GIS-based spatial pattern analysis model for eco-region mapping and characterization. Int J Geogr Inf Sci 17:445–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rocky Mountain Research Station, USDA Forest Service, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Robert G. Bailey

Authors
  1. Robert G. Bailey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bailey, R.G. (2014). Continental Types and Their Controls. In: Ecoregions. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0524-9_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation