Ecoregions: A Spatial Framework for Environmental Management

Abstract Ecoregionization is a process of delineating and classifying ecologically distinctive areas of ecological land. Each area can be viewed as a discrete system that has resulted from the mesh and interplay of the geologic, landform, soil, vegetative, climatic, wildlife, water, and human factors where ecological functions and processes are continuing. The dominance of any one or more of these factors varies with the given ecological land unit. This holistic approach to land classification can be applied incrementally on a scale‐related basis from site‐specific ecosystems to very broad ecosystems (1). Ecological processes, evolutionary mechanisms, and geological forces are continually reshaping landscapes across various scales of time and space and result in distinctive but dynamic ecoregions. All of the world's food…