Marine ecoregion - Wikipedia

A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, 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:

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 initiative.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b 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.[1]
^ "MEOW digital ecoregions layer: ArcGIS Shapefile download link". Archived from the original on 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
^ 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 ecosystems

General components and freshwater ecosystems

General	Acoustic ecology Algal bloom Anoxic waters Aquatic adaptation Aquatic animal Insect Mammal Water bird Aquatic biomonitoring Aquatic plant Aquatic population dynamics Aquatic predation Aquatic respiration Aquatic science Aquatic toxicology Benthos Bioluminescence Biomass Cascade effect Colored dissolved organic matter Dead zone Ecohydrology Eutrophication Fisheries science Food chain Food web GIS and aquatic science Hydrobiology Hypoxia Macrobenthos Meiobenthos Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial loop Nekton Neuston Particle Pelagic zone Photic zone Phytoplankton Plankton Pleuston Productivity Ramsar Convention Sediment trap Shoaling and schooling Siltation Spawn Stable isotope analysis in aquatic ecosystems Substrate Thermal pollution Trophic level Underwater camouflage Water column Zooplankton
Freshwater	Freshwater biology Freshwater biome Freshwater environmental quality parameters Freshwater fish Hyporheic zone Limnology Lake ecosystem Lake stratification Macrophyte Pond Fish pond Rheotaxis River ecosystem Stream bed Stream pool Trophic state index Upland and lowland Water garden Wetland Bog Brackish marsh Fen Freshwater marsh Freshwater swamp forest
Ecoregions	List of freshwater ecoregions (WWF) Africa and Madagascar Latin America and the Caribbean List of marine ecoregions Specific examples Everglades Maharashtra North Pacific Subtropical Gyre San Francisco Estuary

Marine ecosystems

General

Marine life

Census of Marine Life Deep-sea community Deep-water coral Marine fungi Marine invertebrates Marine larval ecology Seagrass Seashore wildlife Wild fisheries
Microorganisms	Marine bacteriophage Marine prokaryotes Marine protists Marine viruses Paradox of the plankton
Vertebrates	Marine mammal Marine reptile Saltwater fish Coastal fish Coral reef fish Deep-sea fish Demersal fish Pelagic fish Seabird

Marine habitats

Conservation

v t e Ecology: Modelling ecosystems: Trophic components
General	Abiotic component Abiotic stress Behaviour Biogeochemical cycle Biomass Biotic component Biotic stress Carrying capacity Competition Ecosystem Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem model Green world hypothesis Keystone species List of feeding behaviours Metabolic theory of ecology Productivity Resource Restoration
Producers	Autotrophs Chemosynthesis Chemotrophs Foundation species Kinetotrophs Mixotrophs Myco-heterotrophy Mycotroph Organotrophs Photoheterotrophs Photosynthesis Photosynthetic efficiency Phototrophs Primary nutritional groups Primary production
Consumers	Apex predator Bacterivore Carnivores Chemoorganotroph Foraging Generalist and specialist species Intraguild predation Herbivores Heterotroph Heterotrophic nutrition Insectivore Mesopredators Mesopredator release hypothesis Omnivores Optimal foraging theory Planktivore Predation Prey switching
Decomposers	Chemoorganoheterotrophy Decomposition Detritivores Detritus
Microorganisms	Archaea Bacteriophage Lithoautotroph Lithotrophy Marine Microbial cooperation Microbial ecology Microbial food web Microbial intelligence Microbial loop Microbial mat Microbial metabolism Phage ecology
Food webs	Biomagnification Ecological efficiency Ecological pyramid Energy flow Food chain Trophic level
Example webs	Lakes Rivers Soil Tritrophic interactions in plant defense Marine food webs cold seeps hydrothermal vents intertidal kelp forests North Pacific Gyre San Francisco Estuary tide pool
Processes	Ascendency Bioaccumulation Cascade effect Climax community Competitive exclusion principle Consumer–resource interactions Copiotrophs Dominance Ecological network Ecological succession Energy quality Energy systems language f-ratio Feed conversion ratio Feeding frenzy Mesotrophic soil Nutrient cycle Oligotroph Paradox of the plankton Trophic cascade Trophic mutualism Trophic state index
Defense, counter	Animal coloration Anti-predator adaptations Camouflage Deimatic behaviour Herbivore adaptations to plant defense Mimicry Plant defense against herbivory Predator avoidance in schooling fish

v t e Ecology: Modelling ecosystems: Other components
Population ecology	Abundance Allee effect Consumer-resource model Depensation Ecological yield Effective population size Intraspecific competition Logistic function Malthusian growth model Maximum sustainable yield Overpopulation Overexploitation Population cycle Population dynamics Population modeling Population size Predator–prey (Lotka–Volterra) equations Recruitment Small population size Stability Resilience Resistance Random generalized Lotka–Volterra model
Species	Biodiversity Density-dependent inhibition Ecological effects of biodiversity Ecological extinction Endemic species Flagship species Gradient analysis Indicator species Introduced species Invasive species / Native species Latitudinal gradients in species diversity Minimum viable population Neutral theory Occupancy–abundance relationship Population viability analysis Priority effect Rapoport's rule Relative abundance distribution Relative species abundance Species diversity Species homogeneity Species richness Species distribution Species–area curve Umbrella species
Species interaction	Antibiosis Biological interaction Commensalism Community ecology Ecological facilitation Interspecific competition Mutualism Parasitism Storage effect Symbiosis
Spatial ecology	Biogeography Cross-boundary subsidy Ecocline Ecotone Ecotype Disturbance Edge effects Foster's rule Habitat fragmentation Ideal free distribution Intermediate disturbance hypothesis Insular biogeography Land change modeling Landscape ecology Landscape epidemiology Landscape limnology Metapopulation Patch dynamics r/K selection theory Resource selection function Source–sink dynamics
Niche	Ecological niche Ecological trap Ecosystem engineer Environmental niche modelling Guild Habitat marine habitats Limiting similarity Niche apportionment models Niche construction Niche differentiation Ontogenetic niche shift
Other networks	Assembly rules Bateman's principle Bioluminescence Ecological collapse Ecological debt Ecological deficit Ecological energetics Ecological indicator Ecological threshold Ecosystem diversity Emergence Extinction debt Kleiber's law Liebig's law of the minimum Marginal value theorem Thorson's rule Xerosere
Other	Allometry Alternative stable state Balance of nature Biological data visualization Ecological economics Ecological footprint Ecological forecasting Ecological humanities Ecological stoichiometry Ecopath Ecosystem based fisheries Endolith Evolutionary ecology Functional ecology Industrial ecology Macroecology Microecosystem Natural environment Regime shift Sexecology Systems ecology Urban ecology Theoretical ecology
Outline of ecology