10 Ecoregions and Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
95
10.1 Long-Term Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
95
10.2 Use of the Ko ¨ppen Climate Classification to Detect
Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
97
10.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
11 Continental Patterns and Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
11.1 Pattern Within Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
105
11.2 Disturbance and Succession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
11.3 Boundaries Between Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
12 Applications of Ecoregional Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
12.1 Design for Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
111
12.1.1 Understand Ecosystem Pattern in Terms
of Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
12.1.2 Use Pattern to Design Sustainable
Landscapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
12.2 Significance to Ecosystem Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
12.2.1 Local Systems Within Context . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
12.2.2 Spatial Transferability of Models . . . . . . . . . . 114
12.2.3 Links Between Terrestrial and Aquatic
Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
12.2.4 Design of Sampling Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
12.2.5 Transfer Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
12.2.6 Determining Suitable Locations for Seed
Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
12.2.7 Understanding Landscape Fragmentation . . . . 119
12.2.8 Choosing Planting Strategies for Landscaping
and Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12.2.9 Environmental Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . 119
12.2.10 Learn from Successful Ecological Designs and
Predict Establishment of Invasive Species . . . 120
12.2.11 Maintain and Restore Biodiversity . . . . . . . . . 120
12.2.12 Facilitate Conservation Planning . . . . . . . . . . 120
12.3 Significance to Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
12.3.1 Restructuring Research Programs . . . . . . . . . . 122
12.3.2 Some Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12.3.3 Natural Ecosystem Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12.3.4 Effects of Climatic Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12.3.5 Relationships Between Vegetation and
Landform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
13 Use of Fire Regimes at the Ecoregion Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
13.1 Ecosystem Structure and Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
127
13.2 Range of Variation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
13.3 Different Ecoregions, Different Fire Regimes . . . . . . . . 128
Contents
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