Ecoregions of Yukon, 2014 is an update to the Yukon portion of the 1995 National Ecological Framework (NEF) described in Ecoregions of Yukon (Smith et al 2004). Because of people's familiarity with the 1995 NEF, and its use in management and planning, these ecoregion revisions attempted to retain the 1995 divisions unless there were compelling reasons to change them. In Yukon there were several compelling reasons to revise the 1995 NEF: 1) capitalize on availability of digital inventory and knowledge and improve or adjust the 1995 mapping as necessary, 2) harmonize stratification along jurisdictional borders, 3) incorporate line work updates to the Soil Landscape polygons by Agriculture and AgriFood Canada (AAFC) happening concurrently, and 4) include Yukon revisions in a national update of NEF ecozones across Canada - led by Environment Canada (CCEA 2017).Mapping the ecoregions of Yukon is largely a top-down process and the divisional hierarchy is nested. The lowest level of the hierarchy is the Soil Landscapes of Canada unit (Soil Landscape Component, or SLC). SLCs are organized according to a uniform set of national soil and landscape criteria that are based on permanent natural attributes. SLCs polygons are not published in this release. Ecozones, ecoregions and ecodistricts are subdivisions at the continental scale of climatic zones; attention to physiography increases as map scale increases. There are many reasonable ways to distinguish Yukon ecoregions. Ecoregions are delineated principally on abiotic features, such as bedrock geology, glacial history and physiography, and so are relatively stable (i.e. enduring) over time. While considering changes to the 1995 NEF, the project team continued to recognize major physiographic and climatic distinctions. At the ecozone level the team included a stronger regional climate element and related the ecozone level to the bioclimate framework.The Ecoregions of Yukon concept is used for broad scale management applications. Its structure helps define ecologically relevant management units at various scales. The Ecoregions of the Yukon Territory (Smith et al. 2004) describes Yukon's ecozones and ecoregions represented in the 1995 NEF (ESWG 1995). This reference continues to be a useful and relevant resource the Ecoregions of Yukon, 2014. For a fulsome treatment of the updates in the Ecoregions of Yukon, 2014 please refer to the report "Ecoregions of Yukon: Revisions to the Yukon portion of the National Ecological Framework." (McKenna, K, J. Meikle and N. Flynn 2014).Distributed from [GeoYukon](https://yukon.ca/geoyukon) by the [Government of Yukon](https://yukon.ca/maps) . Discover more digital map data and interactive maps from Yukon's digital map data collection.For more information: [geomatics.help@yukon.ca](mailto:geomatics.help@yukon.ca)

The “Terrestrial Ecoregions of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecoregions. An ecoregion is a subdivision of an ecoprovince and is characterized by distinctive regional ecological factors, including climate, physiography, vegetation, soil, water, and fauna. For example, the Maritime Barrens ecoregion (no. 114) is one of nine ecoregions within the Newfoundland ecoprovince.

This dataset is used is used to determine the significance or status of wetland classes and certain other natural heritage features. It is also used to set targets for Wilderness Class Provincial parks, State of the Forest reporting and to study natural disturbance regimes.

An ecoregion is an area with major physiographic and minor macroclimatic or oceanographic variation. There are 43 ecoregion in British Columbia of which 39 are terrestrial. Ecodivsions are meant to be mapped at 1:500,000 for regional strategic planning

Ecodomains are areas broad climatic uniformity, defined at the global level

Ecosections are areas with minor physiographic and macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. There are 114 ecosections in British Columbia varying from pure marine units to pure terrestrial units. Ecosections are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for resource emphasis and area planning

An ecoprovince is an area with consistent climatic or oceanography, relief and regional landforms. There one oceanic, two marine / terrestrial and seven terrestrial ecoprovinces occurring within British Columbia. Ecoprovinces are meant to be mapped at 1:2,000,000 for use in provincial state of the environment reporting

Ecodivisions are areas of broad climatic and physiographic uniformity, defined at the continental level.

Pepin et al. (2014) stated that three nested spatial scales were identified as relevant for the development of ecosystem summaries and management plans: Bioregion, Ecosystem Production Unit (EPU), and Ecoregion. A bioregion is composed by one or more EPUs, while an EPU consists of a combination of ecoregions, which represent elements with different physical and biological characteristics based on the analytical criteria applied. Pepin et al. (2014) reported on the consolidation of data and analyses of ecoregion structure for the continental shelf areas from the Labrador Sea to the mid-Atlantic Bight and provided recommendations on the definition of EPUs in the NAFO Convention Area. The results of two K-means clustering analyses (one geographically constrained and one un-constrained) and expert knowledge (including and considering location of ecoregions, knowledge of the distribution of major marine resources and fish stocks, and geographic proximity for delineation/definition of potential management units) served as guides for evaluation by NAFO’s (North Atlantic Fisheries Organization) working group on ecosystem science and assessments (WG-ESA). The final consensus from the discussions identified eight (8) major EPUs that can serve as practical candidate management units (from the 50 m isobaths, where research vessel data were available, seaward to the 1500 m isobaths) that consist of the Labrador Shelf (NAFO subareas 2GH), the northeast Newfoundland Shelf (subareas 2J3K), the Grand Banks (subareas 3LNO), Flemish Cap (subarea 3M), the Scotian Shelf (subareas 4VnsWX), Georges Bank (parts of subareas 5Ze and 5Zw), the Gulf of Maine (subarea 5Y and part of 5Ze) and the mid-Atlantic Bight (part of subarea 5Zw and subareas 6ABC). Southern Newfoundland (subarea 3Ps) was not included in the original analysis because fall survey data were unavailable. However, it was later added as an EPU after additional analysis of the fish community structure and trends using survey data from the spring, which indicated that this area is heavily influenced by the surrounding EPUs (NAFO 2015).The proposed candidate management units correspond to the EPUs that define major areas within the bioregions which contain a reasonably well defined food web/production system. The working group noted that the consensus solution represents a compromise that aims to define management units based on the boundaries of existing NAFO subareas that are appropriate for estimation of ecosystem and fishery production. References: NAFO. 2015. Report of the 8th Meeting of the NAFO Scientific Council (SC) Working Group on Ecosystem Science and Assessment (WGESA). 17-26 November 2015, Dartmouth, Canada. NAFO SCS Doc. 15/19.Pepin, P., Higdon, J., Koen-Alonso, M., Fogarty, M., and N. Ollerhead. 2014. Application of ecoregion analysis to the identification of Ecosystem Production Units (EPUs) in the NAFO Convention Area. NAFO SCR Doc. 14/069.

Ecologically Based Landscape Classification Data