How many marine ecoregions are there?
232 marine ecoregions
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.
Where are marine ecoregion located?
The distribution of marine biodiversity varies widely throughout ocean basins. The abundance and diversity of most taxa tends to be highest near continental and island margins that are less than 2,000 meters deep.
What is marine endemism?
Preliminary faunal inventories indicate that many constituent species remain undocumented, and even new coral species are still being discovered. This tailored attunement of species to a specific place is called endemism.
What are marine realms?
Very large regions of coastal, benthic or pelagic ocean across which biotas are internally coherent at higher taxonomic levels, as a result of a shared and unique evolutionary history. Realms have high levels of endemism, including unique taxa at generic and family levels in some groups.
What is ecological zone?
An ecological zone is a landscape unit that unites certain interrelated animal and plant communities (biocenosis) with a particular social formation and environmental conditions as part of an integrated system.
How was the theory of island biogeography tested?
The theory of island biogeography was experimentally tested by E. O. Wilson and his student Daniel Simberloff in the mangrove islands in the Florida Keys. Species richness on several small mangroves islands were surveyed. The islands were fumigated with methyl bromide to clear their arthropod communities.
What are the 8 biogeographical realms?
Eight terrestrial biogeographic realms are typically recognized, corresponding roughly to continents (Australasian, Afrotropical, Nearctic, Oceanic, Antarctic, Indo-Malayan, Neotropical, Palearctic).
What are biogeographical regions?
Biogeographic regions are geographical areas that are defined based on the species found in them, which provides invaluable information to ecologists and natural resources managers for understanding large scale processes that affect species and ecosystems.