Wikipedia:WikiProject Ecoregions
/Examples of fully documented ecoregions
Title: WikiProject Ecoregions
Scope:
This WikiProject aims to organize all the 867 terrestrial ecoregions of the 8 major ecozones of Earth into a single and consistent naming scheme, and map the borders of these, and refer to these names in biology, ecology, physical geography and climate articles, replacing or augmenting nation-state names, which are inexact and don't reflect shifting borders.
Parentage:
None yet. A WikiProject_Terra would be the obvious top-level project (as distinct from 'Earth' perhaps?), and WikiProject_Ecozones, a direct part of this Project.
Sibling WikiProjects:
(also under Terra/Earth) we need a WikiProject_Oceans with descendant WikiProject_Rivers is also advisable, as all rivers drain into oceans, and watersheds are an objective way to organize the flow of water worldwide. That is a paralle project to this.
Descendant Wikiprojects:
WikiProject_Amazon_Rainforest, WikiProject_Sahara_Desert, WikiProject_Australian_Desert, WikiProject_Sumatran_Rainforest, etc., as these are interesting and expertise is recruited on each.
Strategy:
Ecoregions aren't going away - ever, we hope (if they all go away, we die). They are the obvious and only objective way to organize physical geography and enable organization of ecology and climate data, including ranges of animals and plants. Right now there are weak stub articles at ecozones (listing), Nearctic, Neotropic, and etc..
We want to navigate logically from the entire planet Earth/Terra down into the ecozones and ecoregions, and their bordering rivers, seas, and oceans. Eventually a meta:Wikipediatlas will be part of the Wikipedia, as it is the Brittanica, etc., which includes a terrific Atlas, which we have to beat! The only way to do that is to organize in this state of the art way that isn't practical for paper, in general.
The obvious starting point is the Dymaxion Map of the Earth, which shows the continents floating in a world ocean, and makes the watersheds obvious. Superimposing the ecozones on that, and the subordinate rivers flowing to each ocean through them, and then the ecoregions on the surface, is the only objective way to break down the Earth's biosphere without cognizance of political boundaries or languages. Perhaps Latin names should be used for the rivers as they are for plants, animals, and ecozones - and some ecoregions which could be translated into Latin perhaps for this purpose. Translating the ecoregions and rivers into Latin isn't hard for those that have multiple names and were colonized by Europeans.
Then, all of ecology is using Latin as its basic language. If necessary English would be the alternate, for obvious reasons, or French, for its closeness to Latin and use as a global 'lingua franca' (literally). This should be decided early and in line with the practices of ecologists and biologists.
Entry Naming
as per external link references in ecoregions
Formatting
A template for this structure can be found here.
Arabian Desert and East Sahero-Arabian xeric shrublands
An ecoregion entry includes:
- The ecozone it is contained within
- Any oceans or seas that it borders
- The rivers that flow through it
- Surface covered by the ecoregion
- A list of alternative names for the ecoregion in native languages, ideally those of the most aboriginal inhabitants, Latin, French, and English, and those official languages of any nations that intersect with it
- It's current best-known borders, in terms of the meta:spacetime DTD
- A precise definition for the ecoregion, containing links to the biological/botanic and climatic concepts that are involved in it;
- A list of links to any generalizations, categories of ecoregions that this one is an example of, e.g. "tropical"
- A list of links to the species of plants (botanical) that grow, in what types of soil, and links to these
- A list of links to native animals organized from top predator down through lesser predators, then herbivore/prey animals and plants they feed on.
- A list of links to non-native plants and animals introduced by humans, and a description of how they have impacted native ones
- Conservation status as defined by...
- A list of links to relevant Wikipedia articles, e.g. on the likely impact of climate change or sea level rise on the region - this should avoid the question of "whether the change will occur" and concentrate on what happens IF it occurs, only
- The industries conducted in the region
- The cultures of the region, comprehensive, with languages
- The ecological challenges facing the region, e.g.
Sumatran rainforest, on orang-utan and ape extinction and deforestation:
A proposal to build an XML DTD for this purpose is at WikiProject_Ecoregions/ecoregionDTD, which is necessarily dependent on the WikiProject_Ecoregions/spacetime DTD.
===Hierarchy definition=== Terra/Ecozone/River/Ecoregion/Predator/Prey/Plant/Soil
Participants
- This WikiProject was proposed by Earth, itself, fed up by itchy humans on its surface.
- Right. Earth ability is limited to do the job herself. And it fits very well in my biodiversity focus, so I'll help a bit User:anthere
Démarche
Definition of the following notions
Ecological land classif
- Ecological land classification
- Ecozone --
- Ecozone --
- Ecoprovince --
- Ecoregion --
- Ecodistrict --
- Ecosection --
- Ecosite --
- Ecoelement
Ecozones
- Ecozone : avec la liste complete et la description de chacune (chacune, lien vers la liste des pa contenue) - list defined - :Nearctic
- Palearctic
- Afrotropic
- Indomalaya
- Australasia ecozone
- Neotropic
- Oceania
- Antarctic
Other names Australasia, Antarctica, Afrotropical, Indo-Malayan, Nearctical, Neotropical, Oceania, Paleartical
Biomes
- Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
- Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
- Tropical and Subtropical Coniferous Forests
- Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests (temperate, humid)
- Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands
- Temperate Coniferous Forests (temperate cold, humid)
- Boreal Forests/Taiga (subartic, humid)
- Temperate Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands (temperate, semi-arid)
- Flooded Grasslands and Savannas
- Montane Grasslands and Shrublands
- Tundra (artic, humid)
- Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands, and Shrub (temperate warm, humid)
- Deserts and Xeric Shrublands
- Mangrove
Climates
climate types Grand types climatiques mondiaux -- climate - no list defined, but many not necessary since already defined in biome - or with a very precise definition of climate
Soils
We could use the FAO classification, as it is a worldwide one, widely accepted and translated in many languages.
- Issue 1 : the main map is "fair use" : could we ask for it, might we just put a link to it ?
- Issue 2 : the main map is not precise enough 1:5000000, to easily find references of soil types for each ecoregion. There is another more precise map.
http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/wrb/wrbmaps/htm/soilres.htm
- soil - FAO soil classification -- http://www.fao.org/ag/agl/agll/wrb/wrbmaps/htm/soilres.htm
- Acrisols
- Andosols - Anthrosols (AT) - Arenosols - Cambisols - Chernozems - Cryosols (CR) - Durisols (DU) - Ferralsols - Fluvisols - Gleysols - Histosols - Kastanozems - Lithosols - Luvisols - Nitosols - Phaeozems - Planosols - Podzols - Albeluvisols (AB) - Rankers - Regosols - Rendzinas - Solonchaks - Solonetz - Umbrisols (UM) - Vertisols - Yermosols
Conservation
- In global 200, list of ecoregions - no list
- conservation status (need to established whose conservation status to use)
Internal links
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecor%E9gion
Biogeography
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C9cozone
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C9codistrict
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_%E9cologique_des_terres