Toward a scientifically rigorous basis for developing mapped ecological regions

Despite the wide use of ecological regions in conservation and resource-management evaluations and assessments, a commonly accepted theoretical basis for ecological regionalization does not exist. This fact, along with the paucity of focus on ecological regionalization by professional associations, journals, and faculties, has inhibited the advancement of a broadly acceptable scientific basis for the development, use, and verification of ecological regions. The central contention of this article is that ecological regions should improve our understanding of geographic and ecological phenomena associated with biotic and abiotic processes occurring in individual regions and also of processes characteristic of interactions and dependencies among multiple regions. Research associated with any ecoregional framework should facilitate development of hypotheses about ecological phenomena and dominant landscape elements associated with these phenomena, how these phenomena are structured in space, and how they function in a hierarchy. Success in addressing the research recommendations outlined in this article cannot occur within an ad hoc, largely uncoordinated research environment. Successful implementation of this plan will require activities--coordination, funding, and education--that are both scientific and administrative in nature. Perhaps the most important element of an infrastructure to support the scientific work of ecoregionalization would be a national or international authority similar to the Water and Science Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences.     

Monitoring the Conservation of Grassland Habitats, Prairie Ecozone, Canada

The Prairie Ecozone contains 5% of Canada's land area and represents 16% of the Great Plains of North America. Current estimates indicate that 25–30% of original Canadian grassland habitats remain, largely concentrated in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan with fragments distributed throughout southern Manitoba. The size, distribution and condition of native grasslands serve as valuable indicators of the ecological integrity and the sustainability of those landscape types. With so little native grasslands remaining, areas that conserve grasslands serve as core sites for indicators such as gaps in ecosystem and wildlife habitat protection, i.e. which ecosystems are well-represented, poorly represented or have no representation. Such gap analyses helps to determine where protection efforts need to be placed in the future. Overall, about 3.5% of the Prairie Ecozone of Canada is under some form of conservation area status. This paper reports, relative to the ecoregions and political jurisdictions of the Prairie Ecozone, on the amount and distribution of various types of conservation areas and native grasslands. Relationships between the occurrence of conservation areas and grasslands are presented. Implications for conservation area planning and management are discussed within regional, national and international contexts. The issue of which characteristics of conservation areas should be assessed and monitored to address conservation objectives for sustainability is also discussed.