Bioregion

Last updated

Canada drainage map - en.svg

A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, and is defined along watershed and hydrological boundaries.

Contents

A key difference between an ecoregion and bioregion, is that while ecoregions are based on general biophysical and ecosystem data, human settlement and cultural patterns play a key role for how a bioregion is defined. [1] [2] A bioregion is defined along watershed and hydrological boundaries, and uses a combination of bioregional layers, beginning with the oldest "hard" lines; geology, topography, tectonics, wind, fracture zones and continental divides, working its way through the "soft" lines: living systems such as soil, ecosystems, climate, marine life, and the flora and fauna, and lastly the "human" lines: human geography, energy, transportation, agriculture, food, music, language, history, indigenous cultures, and ways of living within the context set into a place, and it's limits to determine the final edges and boundaries. [3] [4] [5] This is summed up well by David McCloskey, author of the Cascadia Bioregion map: "An bioregion may be analyzed on physical, biological, and cultural levels. First, we map the landforms, geology, climate, and hydrology, and how these environmental factors work together to create a common template for life in that particular place. Second, we map the flora and fauna, especially the characteristic vegetative communities, and link them to their habitats. Third, we look at native peoples, western settlement, and current land-use patterns and problems, in interaction with the first two levels. [6] "

A bioregion is defined as the largest physical boundaries where connections based on that place will make sense. The basic units of a bioregion are watersheds and hydrological basins, and a bioregion will always maintain the natural continuity and full extent of a watershed. While a bioregion may stretch across many watersheds, it will never divide or separate a water basin. [7] There is also an attempt to use the term in a rank-less generalist sense, similar to the terms "biogeographic area" or "biogeographic unit". [8] It may be conceptually similar to an ecoprovince. [9] It is also differently used in the environmentalist context, being coined by Berg and Dasmann (1977). [10] [11]

The term bioregion was originally coined by Allen Van Newkirk in 1972. [12] It was carried forward and developed by Raymond Dasmann and Peter Berg, [13] [14] who founded the Planet Drum foundation in 1973, [15] [12] located in San Francisco and which just celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. [16]

Planet Drum, from their website, defines a bioregion as:

a distinct area with coherent and interconnected plant and animal communities, including human and natural systems, often defined by a watershed. A bioregion is a whole 'life-place' with unique requirements for human inhabitation so that it will not be disrupted and injured. [15]

Peter Berg defined a bioregion at the Symposium on Biodiversity of Northwestern California, October 28–30, 1991:

A bioregion can be determined initially by the use of climatology, physiography, animal and plant geography, natural history and other descriptive natural sciences. The final boundaries of a bioregion are best described by the people who have lived within it, through human recognition of the realities of living-in-place. All life on the planet is interconnected in a few obvious ways, and in many more that remain barely explored. But there is a distinct resonance among living things and the factors which influence them that occurs specifically within each separate place on the planet. Discovering and describing that resonance is a way to describe a bioregion. [17] [18]

Kirkpatrick Sale, another early pioneer of the idea of bioregions, defined it in 1974 by declaring that:

A bioregion is a part of the earth's surface whose rough boundaries are determined by natural and human dictates, distinguishable from other areas by attributes of flora, fauna, water, climate, soils and land-forms, and human settlements and cultures those attributes give rise to. The borders between such areas are usually not rigid – nature works with more flexibility and fluidity than that – but the general contours of the regions themselves are not hard to identify, and indeed will probably be felt, understood, sensed or in some way known to many inhabitants, and particularly those still rooted in the land. [19] [20]

Neil Burgess, Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, Jennifer Hales in their papers funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) on terrestrial and marine ecoregions in 2004 define a bioregion as "geographic clusters of ecoregions that may span several habitat types, but have strong biogeographic affinities, particularly at taxonomic levels higher than the species level (genus, family)" [21] [22] [23] . However, the World Wide Fund for Nature primarily uses Ecoregions as the basis for their taxonomy, classifying 867 terrestrial ecoregions, into 14 different biomes such as forests, grasslands, or deserts. [24] They have highlighted what they call the Global 200, 200 ecoregions of important biodiversity at risk, set within a system of 30 biomes and biogeographic realms to facilitate a representation analysis [25] . A search of the WWF website does not show any use of the term bioregion. [26]

Bioregions as a Key Component of Bioregionalism as a general principle

The definition and idea of a bioregion emerged from and form the foundation for a set of ethics, and philosophy called Bioregionalism.

As the environmental movement developed in the 1970s, a counter-current emerged calling itself bioregionalism. Developing primarily in Western North America, this movement sought to address environmental issues through a politics, practice, and emerging community and personal identity that was based on a local and ecologically attuned sense-of-place. Early bioregionalists felt such an approach might prove more fruitful than efforts focused at the national and international levels. [27]

In the early 1970s, the contemporary vision of bioregionalism began to be formed through collaboration between natural scientists, social and environmental activists, artists and writers, community leaders, and back-to-the-landers who worked directly with natural resources. They wanted to do "more than just save what's left" in regard to nature, wildness and the biosphere. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s Peter Berg and other like-minded individuals, including Judy Goldhaft, Raymond Dasmann, Kirkpatrick Sale, Judith Plant, Eleanor Wright, Doug Aberley, Stephanie Mills, Jim Dodge, Freeman House, Van Andruss, David Haenke, and Gary Snyder, sought to create a locally rooted environmental movement, one they decided to call bioregionalism, from the ground up. This new form of environmentalism was not reactive, responding to every all-too-frequent threat or calamity, but pro-active, seeking to create the conditions for a more ecologically suitable world in which such threats and calamities were avoided. [27]

During the 1970s, Planet Drum Foundation in San Francisco became a voice for this sentiment through its publications about applying place-based ideas to environmental practices, society, cultural expressions, philosophy, politics, and other subjects. By the late 70s, bioregional organizations such as the Frisco Bay Mussel Group in northern California and Ozark Area Community Congress on the Kansas-Missouri border were founded to articulate local economic, social, political, and cultural agendas. The Mussel Group eventually played a pivotal role in persuading the public to vote down a bioregionally lethal Peripheral Canal proposal to divert fresh water away from San Francisco Bay. The Ozarks group has held continuous annual gatherings to promote and support place-based activities. At present there are hundreds of similar groups (and publications) in North and South America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. [28]

Peter Berg, founder of the Planet Drum Foundation in San Francisco in 1973. L77YuMzFTJeWGJobnkaw Peter-Berg-Header-1024x506.png
Peter Berg, founder of the Planet Drum Foundation in San Francisco in 1973.

In the 1980's, the term bioregion began to be picked up by state and federal agencies, and global bodies such as the United Nation and World Wildlife Foundation. However, these government entities sought more technocratic solutions, and tried to separate human cultures living in a place, from the ecological data they were collecting. Raymond Dasmann and Peter Berg pushed back against these global bodies that were attempting to use the term bioregion in a strictly ecological sense, which separated humans from the ecosystems they lived in. Environmental activist and one of the original Diggers, Peter Berg, for example, had attended the 1972 UN conference on the environment in Stockholm and came away convinced that such global gatherings and institutions were not going to solve the problem, indeed to some degree they very much were the problem. Cheryll Glotfelty and Eve Quesnel explain in their recent compilation of Berg's writing, The Biosphere and the Bioregion, in 1977 Berg and ecologist Raymond Dasmann published an article titled "Reinhabiting California" saying:

"Reinhabitation involves developing a bioregional identity, something most North Americans have lost or have never possessed. We define bioregion in a sense different from the biotic provinces of Raymond Dasmann (1973) or the biogeographical province of Miklos Udvardy. The term refers both to geographical terrain and a terrain of consciousness—to a place and the ideas that have developed about how to live in that place. Within a bioregion, the conditions that influence life are similar, and these, in turn, have influenced human occupancy."

Reinhabitaing California by Peter Berg and raymond F. Dasmann. Published in Home: A Bioregional Reader.

This manifesto defined bioregions as places related to but distinct from the biogeographical provinces that ecologists and geographers had been developing by adding a cultural dimension to the geographical concept. [27] [29] [30]

Because it is a cultural idea, the description of a specific bioregion is drawn using information from not only the natural sciences but also many other sources. It is a geographic terrain and a terrain of consciousness. [31] Anthropological studies, historical accounts, social developments, customs, traditions, and arts can all play a part. Bioregionalism utilizes them to accomplish three main goals:

  1. restore and maintain local natural systems;
  2. practice sustainable ways to satisfy basic human needs such as food, water, shelter, and materials; and
  3. support the work of reinhabitation. [28]

The latter is accomplished through proactive projects, employment and education, as well as by engaging in protests against the destruction of natural elements in a life-place. [32]

Bioregional goals play out in a spectrum of different ways for different places. In North America, for example, restoring native prairie grasses is a basic ecosystem-rebuilding activity for reinhabitants of the Kansas Area Watershed Bioregion in the Midwest, whereas bringing back salmon runs has a high priority for Shasta Bioregion in northern California. Using geothermal and wind as a renewable energy source fits Cascadia Bioregion in the rainy Pacific Northwest. Less cloudy skies in the Southwest's sparsely vegetated Sonoran Desert Bioregion make direct solar energy a more plentiful alternative there. Education about local natural characteristics and conditions varies diversely from place to place, along with bioregionally significant social and political issues. [28]

Ecoregions

Main article: Ecoregion

HUC subregions.png

Ecoregions are the rooms in the house of a bioregion, and each bioregion is composed of watersheds and ecoregions. Ecoregion is short-hand for regional ecosystem. An ecoregion is a relatively similar area united by common geography, ecology, and culture. Ecoregions are distinct places which help articulate the internal diversity of a large and complex region. [6]

The history of the term is somewhat vague, and it had been used in many contexts: forest classifications (Loucks, 1962), biome classifications (Bailey, 1976, 2014), biogeographic classifications (WWF/Global 200 scheme of Olson & Dinerstein, 1998), etc. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] The concept of ecoregion applied by Bailey gives more importance to ecological criteria and climate, while the WWF concept gives more importance to biogeography, that is, the distribution of distinct species assemblages. [36]

The purpose of ecoregional mapping is two-fold: one, to provide a common, integrative framework for management of natural resources, and two, for deeper social identification with the land and each other, and thus, better political organization. An ecoregion is known in two ways: internally by its distinctive character (e.g. the Okanogan Highlands), and externally by its context in the region (e.g. Okanogan in relation to the Columbia Plateau). [6]

Each layer of information is brought together to represent the regional system. No one single factor (e.g. climate) explains everything. The inner structure of an ecoregion is organized as a series of intersecting gradients; temperature and precipitation changing with elevation, in alternating belts of vegetation along windward and leeward sides of a parallel series of mountain ranges, with biodiversity thinning toward the edges. Such flows of energy, matter, and information form a distinctive matrix. To understand the region, we must comprehend this system of relationships. [6]

Boundaries are natural, and often found as soft transitional areas rather than hard-edged political lines on a map. The boundary is a convergent threshold where many layers intersect, located where several significant factors end and begin. Borders articulate the natural envelope of the place–its centers and bounds–and link this diversity into the larger world. [6]

Since ecological systems are open and lack definite boundaries, in complex terrain, watersheds are often used to represent ecosystems on a landscape level. Here, ecoregions are often drawn as a series of contiguous watersheds with similar character and context. However, where other factors predominate–such as landforms, tectonic suites, regional rivers, vegetative breaks, or major cultural boundaries–then watershed lines may be crossed. In each case, the key is to be true to the land and its people. In terms of size, an ecoregion is larger than a watershed and smaller than a bioregion [6]

Cascadia (Bioregion)

The Cascadia bioregion CascadiaMap.png
The Cascadia bioregion

One of the best examples of a complete bioregion is the Cascadia Bioregion, located along the Northwestern rim of North America. The Cascadia bioregion contains 75 distinct ecoregions, and extends for more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from the Copper River in Southern Alaska, to Cape Mendocino, approximately 200 miles north of San Francisco, and east as far as the Yellowstone Caldera and continental divide. [38]

The Cascadia Bioregion encompasses all of the state of Washington, all but the southeastern corner of Idaho, and portions of Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Alaska, Yukon, and British Columbia. Bioregions are geographically based areas defined by land or soil composition, watershed, climate, flora, and fauna. The Cascadia Bioregion claims the entire watershed of the Columbia River (as far as the Continental Divide), as well as the Cascade Range from Northern California well into Canada. It's also considered to include the associated ocean and seas and their ecosystems out to the continental slope. The delineation of a bioregion has environmental stewardship as its primary goal, with the belief that political boundaries should match ecological and cultural boundaries. [39]

The name "Cascadia" was first applied to the whole geologic region by Bates McKee in his 1972 geology textbook Cascadia; the geologic evolution of the Pacific Northwest. Later the name was adopted by David McCloskey, a Seattle University sociology professor, to describe it as a bioregion. McCloskey describes Cascadia as "a land of falling waters." He notes the blending of the natural integrity and the sociocultural unity that gives Cascadia its definition. [40]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biome</span> Biogeographical unit with a particular biological community

A biome is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. A biome encompasses multiple ecosystems within its boundaries. It can also comprise a variety of habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecoregion</span> Ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion

An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation . Ecoregions are also known as "ecozones", although that term may also refer to biogeographic realms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nearctic realm</span> Biogeographic realm encompassing temperate North America

The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neotropical realm</span> One of Earths eight biogeographic realms

The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.

This is an index of conservation topics. It is an alphabetical index of articles relating to conservation biology and conservation of the natural environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biogeographic realm</span> Broadest biogeographic division of Earths land surface

A biogeographic realm is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. A biogeographic realm is also known as "ecozone", although that term may also refer to ecoregions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bioregionalism</span> Ecological philosophy

Bioregionalism is a philosophy that suggests that political, cultural, and economic systems are more sustainable and just if they are organized around naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics. Bioregionalism stresses that the determination of a bioregion is also a cultural phenomenon, and emphasizes local populations, knowledge, and solutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecology of California</span> Environments and natural history of California

The ecology of California can be understood by dividing the state into a number of ecoregions, which contain distinct ecological communities of plants and animals in a contiguous region. The ecoregions of California can be grouped into four major groups: desert ecoregions, Mediterranean ecoregions, forested mountains, and coastal forests.

A marine ecoregion is an ecoregion, or ecological region, of the oceans and seas identified and defined based on biogeographic characteristics.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ecology:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascadia movement</span> Bioregion, proposed country in North America

The Cascadia movement is a bioregional independence movement based in the Cascadia bioregion of western North America. Potential boundaries differ, with some drawn along existing political state and provincial lines, and others drawn along larger ecological, cultural, political, and economic boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cascadia (bioregion)</span> Bioregion in North America

The concept of Cascadian bioregionalism is closely identified with the environmental movement. In the early 1970s, the contemporary vision of bioregionalism began to be formed through collaboration between natural scientists, social and environmental activists, artists and writers, community leaders, and back-to-the-landers who worked directly with natural resources. A bioregion is defined in terms of the unique overall pattern of natural characteristics that are found in a specific place. The main features are generally obvious throughout a continuous geographic terrain and include a particular climate, local aspects of seasons, landforms, watersheds, soils, and native plants and animals. People are also counted as an integral aspect of a locale's life, as can be seen in the ecologically adaptive cultures of early inhabitants, and in the activities of present-day reinhabitants who attempt to harmonize in a sustainable way with the place where they live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecozones of Canada</span> Ecological land classification within Canada

Canada has 20 major ecosystems—ecozones, comprising 15 terrestrial units and 5 marine units. These ecozones are further subdivided into 53 ecoprovinces, 194 ecoregions, and 1,027 ecodistricts. These form the country's ecological land classification within the Ecological Land Classification framework adopted in 2017. They represent areas of the Earth's surface representative of large and very generalized ecological units characterized by interactive and adjusting biotic and abiotic factors.

The Austroriparian is a biogeographic province in the Southeastern United States. As designated by Miklos Udvardy, it includes the humid coniferous and mixed temperate forests of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain and the Atlantic Coastal Plain from eastern Texas to southeastern Virginia, including all but the southernmost portion of Florida, and covering portions of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biogeographic classification of India</span>

Biogeographic classification of India is the division of India according to biogeographic characteristics. Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species (biology), organisms, and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. India has a rich heritage of natural diversity. India ranks fourth in Asia and tenth in the world amongst the top 17 mega-diverse countries in the world. India harbours nearly 11% of the world's floral diversity comprising over 17500 documented flowering plants, 6200 endemic species, 7500 medicinal plants and 246 globally threatened species in only 2.4% of world's land area. India is also home to four biodiversity hotspots—Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Eastern Himalaya, Indo-Burma region, and the Western Ghats. Hence the importance of biogeographical study of India's natural heritage.

Peter Stephen Berg was an environmental writer, best known as an advocate of the concept of bioregionalism. In the early 1960s, he was a member of the San Francisco Mime Troupe and the Diggers. He is the founder of the Planet Drum Foundation.

References

  1. Thayer, Robert (2003). LifePlace: Bioregional Thought and Practice. Berkeley: University of California. ISBN   9780520236288.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. "What is a bioregion?". LocalScale.org. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  3. "Defining a Bioregion". Cascadia Department of Bioregion. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  4. "What is a bioregion?". www.ibiblio.org. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  5. brandonletsinger (5 December 2020). "Defining a 'Bioregion'". Brandon Letsinger. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cascadia, Geography of Bioregion, Name, Flag, Images & Maps, Philosophy, etc". cascadia-institute.org. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  7. "Ecoregions vs Watersheds – Department of Bioregion" . Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  8. Vilhena, D., Antonelli, A. (2015). proach for identifying and delimiting biogeographical regions. Nature Communications 6, 6848, .
  9. Ecological Framework of Canada – Levels of Generalization
  10. Berg, P. and Dasmann, R. (1977). Reinhabiting California. The Ecologist 7 (10): 399–401.
  11. Miller, K. 1999. What is bioregional planning?. In: R. Crofts, E. Maltby, R. Smith and L. Maclean (eds). Integrated Planning: International Perspectives. Battleby, Scotland 7–9 April 1999: IUCN & Scottish Natural Heritage.
  12. 1 2 Evanoff, Richard (November 2017). "Bioregionalism: A Brief Introduction and Overview" (PDF). The Aoyama Journal of International Politics, Economics and Communication, Aoyama Gakuin University, Society of International Politics, Economics and Communication, 2017 (99).
  13. Kase, Aaron. "The Last Eco-Warrior". www.narratively.com. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  14. Wilensky, David A.M. (24 August 2017). "She's been dancing to a different drummer since the Summer of Love". J. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  15. 1 2 "About Planet Drum Foundation". Planet Drum Foundation. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  16. "Panel: Planet Drum 50th anniversary program | San Francisco Public Library". sfpl.org. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  17. "What is a Bioregion?". The Santa Cruz Mountains Bioregional Council (SCMBC). Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  18. "About Bioregions – Department of Bioregion" . Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  19. Patrick Sale, Kirk (1974). "Bioregionalism". the Green Reader: 78 via JSTOR.
  20. Henkel, William B. (1993). "Cascadia: A State of (Various) Mind(s)". Chicago Review. 39 (3/4): 110–118. doi:10.2307/25305728. ISSN   0009-3696.
  21. Burgess, N.D.; D'Amico Hales, J.; Dinerstein, E.; et al. (2004). Terrestrial eco-regions of Africa and Madagascar: A conservation assessment. Washington DC.: Island Press
  22. Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment. Washington, DC: Island Press
  23. Dinerstein, E., Olson, D. Graham, D.J. et al. (1995). A Conservation Assessment of the Terrestrial Ecoregions of Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank, Washington DC., .
  24. "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World". 2012.
  25. "WWF Description of the Global 200. From their website and publication". 2012.
  26. "WWF Website: Search for the Term "Bioregion" and in their published publications". 2024.
  27. 1 2 3 Lynch, Tom (1 June 2016). "Always Becoming Bioregional: An Identity for the Anthropocene". Caliban. French Journal of English Studies (55): 103–112. doi: 10.4000/caliban.3324 . ISSN   2425-6250.
  28. 1 2 3 "Planet Drum Home Page". planetdrum.org. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  29. "The Biosphere and the Bioregion: Essential Writings of Peter Berg". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  30. Berg, Peter; Dasmann, Raymond F. (1990). "Reinhabiting California". Home: A Bioregional Reader. Gabriola Island: New Society Publisher.
  31. "Bioregionalism (a definition)". www.diggers.org. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  32. "Bioregionalism: The Need For a Firmer Theoretical Foundation", Don Alexander, Trumpeter v13.3, 1996.
  33. Loucks, O. L. (1962). A forest classification for the Maritime Provinces. Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 25(Part 2), 85–167.
  34. Bailey, R. G. 1976. Ecoregions of the United States (map). Ogden, Utah: USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Region. 1:7,500,000.
  35. Bailey, R. G. 2002. Ecoregion-based design for sustainability. New York: Springer, .
  36. 1 2 Bailey, R. G. 2014. Ecoregions: The Ecosystem Geography of the. Oceans and Continents. 2nd ed., Springer, 180 pp., .
  37. Olson, D. M. & E. Dinerstein (1998). The Global 200: A representation approach to conserving the Earth's most biologically valuable ecoregions. Conservation Biol. 12:502–515.
  38. "Ecoregions & Watersheds". Department of Bioregion. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  39. "Bioregionalism". cascadianow.org. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  40. "Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest". Washington.edu. Retrieved October 21, 2011.