Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2003 20:24:37 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Bill Ellis Subject: Biotic Areas and EcoRegions In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have preferred to record my birding observations by major habitat type rather than by county for a long time. I am referring to the Biotic Areas of Stewart and Robbins (1958), which are shown in the centerfold of the Yellow Book 3rd Edition (1996), which have recently evolved to: EcoRegions of the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) and National Geographic (Geo) (found at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/terrestrial.html?id=1&mapService Name=WW_Terrecos&locWidth=120&locHeight=72&cMinx=-78&cMiny=39&cMaxx=-76&cMax y=40&size=large&detail=detailed ; be sure to copy both pieces of this URL into your browser address block; then zoom out two steps to see Maryland boundaries) Ecosystem Provinces of Bailey (at http://www.fs.fed.us/colorimagemap/ecoreg1_provinces.html ) The Nature Conservancy's US Ecoregions (at http://www.fs.fed.us/colorimagemap/ecoreg1_provinces.html ) And the American Bird Conservancy's Bird Conservation Regions (at http://www.abcbirds.org/iba/ibamap.htm ). I encourage birders to become familiar with one of these new systems for describing major bird habitat, which are much more attuned to ecological context than the earlier Stewart and Robbins Biotic Areas - these were dominated more by physical geography than by climate/plant community considerations. I like the WWF/Geo EcoRegions design the best. It differs from the Biotic Areas in having more detail, and in splitting the Piedmont into a northern area and a southern area at a line that curves roughly from Buckeystown through Gaithersburg, Aspen Hill, Burtonsville, to Columbia. This sets the Potomac area in the Southeastern Mixed Forest region, and the northern MD Piedmont in the Northeastern Coastal Forests. While the latter is dominated by white and northern red oaks, the former has much hickory and pine mixed with those oaks, and is a plant community greatly affected by regular fires. You can see that the WWF/Geo design also assigns much of the Western Shore of MD to the Southeastern Mixed Forest, too. The Eastern Shore is characterized as the Middle Atlantic Coastal Forest region, including parts of St. Marys and Calvert Counties. My reason for this e-mail: I think we are falling behind the knowledge curve if we continue to refer to the old Biotic Areas. I think birding records would be more useful if they refer to one version of these newer ecoregion concepts when describing location. At least during the breeding season and during the mid-winter. During spring and fall migrations, I think another strategy is needed (major migration pathways http://library.fws.gov/Pubs/atlantic_flywaymap.pdf ). Does anyone really care about this? OK - just a little? Bill Ellis Eldersburg, MD Ecological Dreamer ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================