Document Details

Title
Ecosystems of British Columbia
Author
Meidinger, D.V.
Date
1991
Abstract
This report describes terrestrial ecosystems of British Columbia within the framework of the British Columbia Ministry of Forests' biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification. This system of classification is widely used in British Columbia and gives foresters, biologists, agrologists, other resource managers, and naturalists a common framework for a fundamental knowledge of landscape ecology. It thus provides a basis for ecosystem management and other practical decision-making. Readers interested in specific applications of the classification should consult the appropriate regional field guides and reports published by the B.C. Ministry of Forests. Here we merely introduce the philosophy, principles, and methods of biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification, and give the reader some appreciation of the diversity of terrestrial ecosystems in British Columbia. We also want to reinforce the concept of the ecosystem as the fundamental unit of ecology and management. Over the past 15 years, an enormous amount of new information about forest ecology in British Columbia has been gathered; ecosystem classification has become institutionalized; and several changes, modifications, and refinements have been made to previous schemes. Although outlined in Pojar (1983), much of the following information is new or updated.
Report Number
SRS6
 
Title
View
Special Report Series 6 (complete document)
Front Matter (Cover and Table of Contents)
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Concepts
Chapter 3: British Columbia: The Environmental Setting
Chapter 4: Resource Values
Chapter 5: Coastal Douglas-fir Zone
Chapter 6: Coastal Western Hemlock Zone
Chapter 7: Mountain Hemlock Zone
Chapter 8: Bunchgrass Zone
Chapter 9: Ponderosa Pine Zone
Chapter 10: Interior Douglas-fir Zone
Chapter 11: Interior Cedar - Hemlock Zone
Chapter 12: Montane Spruce Zone
Chapter 13: Sub-Boreal Pine - Spruce Zone
Chapter 14: Sub-Boreal Spruce Zone
Chapter 15: Engelmann Spruce - Subalpine Fir Zone
Chapter 16: Boreal White and Black Spruce Zone
Chapter 17: Spruce - Willow - Birch Zone
Chapter 18: Alpine Tundra Zone
Chapter 19: Non-tidal Wetlands
Back Matter (Appendices and References)

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