Ecoregions United States (Omernik) 2005


Identification_Information:
Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Publication_Date:200506
Title:
Ecoregions United States (Omernik) 2005
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:vector digital data
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place:Reston, VA
Publisher:National Atlas of the United States
Online_Linkage: http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html
Description:
Abstract:
This map layer shows Omernik's Level III ecoregions, derived from a
1:7,500,000 map created by J.M. Omernik in 1987 and from refinements of
Omernik's framework that were made for other projects.  Ecoregions
describe areas of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type,
quality, and quantity of environmental resources.  Omernik's ecoregions
are based on the premise that a hierarchy of ecological regions can be
identified through the analysis of the patterns and the composition of
both living and nonliving phenomena, such as geology, physiography,
vegetation, climate, soils, land use, wildlife, and hydrology, that affect
or reflect differences in ecosystem quality and integrity.  All the
characteristics are considered when determining ecoregions, but the
relative importance of each characteristic may vary from one ecoregion to
another.  Level III is the most detailed level available nationally for
this system of ecoregions.
Purpose:
These data are intended for geographic display and analysis at the national level, and for large regional areas. The data should be displayed and analyzed at scales appropriate for 1:7,500,000-scale data. No responsibility is assumed by the National Atlas of the United States in the use of these data.
Supplemental_Information:
Detailed descriptions of the ecological regions represented in this map
layer are available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
Western Ecology Division at:
http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iii.htm.  EPA also offers
data of Omernik's Level III Ecoregions on the same site; the file includes
the same ecoregions as are available through the National Atlas but uses
EPA shorelines and State boundaries.

A bibliography of ecoregion/biocriteria publications, called
ecoomr_Biblio.txt, is bundled with the downloadable data.  Each reference
in the bibliography has a code; the codes are used for any citations in this
metadata file.

Ecoregions denote areas of general similarity in ecosystems and the type,
quantity, and quality of environmental resources; they are designed to
serve as a spatial framework for the research, assessment, management, and
monitoring of ecosystems and ecosystem components.  By recognizing the
spatial differences in the capacities and potentials of ecosystems,
ecoregions stratify the environment by its probable response to
disturbance (BR-1-98).  These general purpose regions are critical for
structuring and implementing ecosystem management strategies across
Federal agencies, State agencies, and nongovernmental organizations that
are responsible for different types of resources within the same
geographic areas (OM-1-00, OM-1-04).

The approach used to compile these ecoregions is based on the premise that
ecological regions are hierarchical and can be identified through the
analysis of the spatial patterns and composition of biotic and abiotic
phenomena that affect or reflect differences in ecosystem quality and
integrity (WI-1-86, OM-1-87, OM-1-95, OM-1-04).  These phenomena include
geology, physiography, vegetation, climate, soils, land use, wildlife,
water quality, and hydrology.  In the regionalization process, the full
range of characteristics is examined and integrated at each scale or level
of resolution.  The relative importance of each characteristic varies from
one ecological region to another regardless of the hierarchical level.
Level I is the coarsest level of the hierarchy, dividing North America
into 15 ecological regions.  Level II divides the continent into 52
regions (CE-1-97).  At level III, the continental United States contains
104 ecoregions, with the conterminous United States having 84 (US-1-03).
More detailed level IV ecoregions have been delineated, or are in the
process of being mapped, for approximately 85 percent of the conterminous
United States.

Since 1994, when the National Interagency Technical Team (NITT) was formed
to develop a common framework of ecological regions (MM-1-01), efforts
have been made to include all of the major federal resource management
agencies in the level IV ecoregion mapping projects.  The goal of each of
these collaborative projects has been to attain consensus across agencies
and ultimately to develop a consistent ecoregion framework for the entire
nation.

Because the collaborative projects to map level IV ecoregions often result
in refined level III boundaries, the map of level III ecoregions is
periodically revised.  Likewise, much of the recent work to refine level
III boundaries and define level IV ecoregions has resulted in slight
differences between these two levels and the coarser level I and II
regions mapped earlier by the CEC.

Level IV ecoregions data and maps can be accessed through the
Environmental Protection Agency Level IV Ecoregions page at
http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iv.htm.
Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date:200302
Currentness_Reference:
Publication date of primary source material
Status:
Progress:Complete
Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency:Irregular
Spatial_Domain:
Bounding_Coordinates:
West_Bounding_Coordinate:-179.133393
East_Bounding_Coordinate:179.788206
North_Bounding_Coordinate:71.398048
South_Bounding_Coordinate:24.518322
Keywords:
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus:ISO 19115 Topic Category
Theme_Keyword:Biota
Theme_Keyword:Environment
Theme:
Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus:None
Theme_Keyword:Ecoregions
Theme_Keyword:Omernik’s ecoregions
Theme_Keyword:Ecological regions
Theme_Keyword:Ecosystems
Theme_Keyword:Regional ecology
Theme_Keyword:Ecosystem geography
Theme_Keyword:Mapping
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus:None
Place_Keyword:United States
Place:
Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1987, Codes for the Identification of the States, the District of Columbia and the Outlying Areas of The United States, and Associated Areas (FIPS 5-2): Washington, DC, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Place_Keyword:Alabama
Place_Keyword:Alaska
Place_Keyword:Arizona
Place_Keyword:Arkansas
Place_Keyword:California
Place_Keyword:Colorado
Place_Keyword:Connecticut
Place_Keyword:Delaware
Place_Keyword:District of Columbia
Place_Keyword:Florida
Place_Keyword:Georgia
Place_Keyword:Idaho
Place_Keyword:Illinois
Place_Keyword:Indiana
Place_Keyword:Iowa
Place_Keyword:Kansas
Place_Keyword:Kentucky
Place_Keyword:Louisiana
Place_Keyword:Maine
Place_Keyword:Maryland
Place_Keyword:Massachusetts
Place_Keyword:Michigan
Place_Keyword:Minnesota
Place_Keyword:Mississippi
Place_Keyword:Missouri
Place_Keyword:Montana
Place_Keyword:Nebraska
Place_Keyword:Nevada
Place_Keyword:New Hampshire
Place_Keyword:New Jersey
Place_Keyword:New Mexico
Place_Keyword:New York
Place_Keyword:North Carolina
Place_Keyword:North Dakota
Place_Keyword:Ohio
Place_Keyword:Oklahoma
Place_Keyword:Oregon
Place_Keyword:Pennsylvania
Place_Keyword:Rhode Island
Place_Keyword:South Carolina
Place_Keyword:South Dakota
Place_Keyword:Tennessee
Place_Keyword:Texas
Place_Keyword:Utah
Place_Keyword:Vermont
Place_Keyword:Virginia
Place_Keyword:Washington
Place_Keyword:West Virginia
Place_Keyword:Wisconsin
Place_Keyword:Wyoming
Access_Constraints:None
Use_Constraints:
None.  Acknowledgment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and (or)
the National Atlas of the United States of America would be appreciated in
products derived from these data.
Point_of_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person:James M. Omernik
Contact_Organization:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Western Ecology Division
Contact_Address:
Address_Type:Mailing and physical address
Address:
200 SW 35th Street
City:Corvallis
State_or_Province:OR
Postal_Code:97333
Country:USA
Contact_Voice_Telephone:541-754-4458
Contact_Facsimile_Telephone:541-754-4716
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address:omernik.james@epa.gov
Native_Data_Set_Environment:
Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 2; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.0.0.535
Cross_Reference:
Citation_Information:
Originator:James M. Omernik
Publication_Date:1987
Title:
Ecoregions of the conterminous United States (map supplement)
Edition:1
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:Map
Series_Information:
Series_Name:Annals of the Association of American Geographers
Issue_Identification:77(1)
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place:Washington, DC
Publisher:Association of American Geographers
Cross_Reference:
Citation_Information:
Originator:USDA Forest Service
Publication_Date:200403
Title:
Bailey’s Ecoregions and Subregions of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:Map
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place:Reston, VA
Publisher:National Atlas of the United States
Online_Linkage: <http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html>
Online_Linkage: <http://www.fs.fed.us/institute/ecoregions/eco_download.html>
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Data_Quality_Information:
Logical_Consistency_Report:
No checks for topological consistency were performed on this map layer.
Completeness_Report:
This map layer includes Level III ecoregions information for the
conterminous United States and Alaska.
Lineage:
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator:Omernik, J.M.
Publication_Date:2003
Title:
Level III Ecoregions of the continental United States
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:Vector digital data
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place:Corvallis, OR
Publisher:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Online_Linkage: <http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/level_iii.htm>
Source_Scale_Denominator:7500000
Type_of_Source_Media:Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date:200302
Source_Currentness_Reference:
publication date
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
US Ecoregions
Source_Contribution:
Spatial and attribute information
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator:Omernik, J.M.
Publication_Date:2000
Title:
Ecoregions of North America
Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form:Vector digital data
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place:Corvallis, OR
Publisher:U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Online_Linkage: <http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/na_eco.htm>
Source_Scale_Denominator:12500000
Type_of_Source_Media:Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Single_Date/Time:
Calendar_Date:2000
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Publication date
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
NA Ecoregions
Source_Contribution:
Spatial and attribute information
Source_Information:
Source_Citation:
Citation_Information:
Originator:National Atlas of the United States
Publication_Date:200506
Title:
State Boundaries of the United States
Publication_Information:
Publication_Place:Reston, VA
Publisher:National Atlas of the United States
Online_Linkage: <http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html>
Source_Scale_Denominator:2000000
Type_of_Source_Media:Online
Source_Time_Period_of_Content:
Time_Period_Information:
Range_of_Dates/Times:
Beginning_Date:1972
Ending_Date:2005
Source_Currentness_Reference:
Ground condition
Source_Citation_Abbreviation:
Atlas-States
Source_Contribution:
Spatial information
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
The US Ecoregions and NA Ecoregions files were downloaded and
reprojected to a Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area projection using
ArcGIS 9.0.  The shorelines in US Ecoregions were deleted.  Alaska
was clipped from in NA Ecoregions, placed in a new file, and the
shorelines were deleted.  The resulting files were combined along with
shorelines from the Atlas-States map layer.  Line work was cleaned and
adjusted.  The polygon attribution from US Ecoregions and NA Ecoregions
was copied into the data and checked.
Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation:
US Ecoregions
Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation:
NA Ecoregions
Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation:
Atlas-States
Process_Date:200503
Process_Step:
Process_Description:
Metadata imported.
Source_Used_Citation_Abbreviation:
C:\DOCUME~1\jfs126\LOCALS~1\Temp\xml75.tmp
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Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:
Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method:Vector
Point_and_Vector_Object_Information:
SDTS_Terms_Description:
SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type:G-polygon
Point_and_Vector_Object_Count:3082
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Spatial_Reference_Information:
Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:
Geographic:
Latitude_Resolution:0.000001
Longitude_Resolution:0.000001
Geographic_Coordinate_Units:Decimal degrees
Geodetic_Model:
Horizontal_Datum_Name:North American Datum of 1927
Ellipsoid_Name:Clarke 1866
Semi-major_Axis:6378206.400000
Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio:294.978698
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Entity_and_Attribute_Information:
Detailed_Description:
Entity_Type:
Entity_Type_Label:ecoomrp075
Entity_Type_Definition:
A region that denotes an area of general similarity in ecosystems and in the type, quality, and quantity of environmental resources. The polygons in this map layer represent Omernik Level III ecoregions.
Entity_Type_Definition_Source:
National Atlas of the United States
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:Level3
Attribute_Definition:
The numeric code of the Level III ecoregion.
Attribute_Definition_Source:
National Atlas of the United States
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Range_Domain:
Range_Domain_Minimum:1
Range_Domain_Maximum:120
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:FID
Attribute_Definition:
Internal feature number.
Attribute_Definition_Source:
ESRI
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Unrepresentable_Domain:
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:AREA
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:PERIMETER
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:ECOOMRP075
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:LEVEL3
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:Shape
Attribute_Definition:
The representation of the entity in the data.
Attribute_Definition_Source:
National Atlas of the United States
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Enumerated_Domain:
Enumerated_Domain_Value:Polygon
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition:
2-dimensional element
Enumerated_Domain_Value_Definition_Source:
ESRI GIS software
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:Area
Attribute_Definition:
The size of the shape in coverage units.  In the distributed file,
coverage units represent square decimal degrees.
Attribute_Definition_Source:
National Atlas of the United States
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Range_Domain:
Range_Domain_Minimum:0.00000
Range_Domain_Maximum:50.151550
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:Perimeter
Attribute_Definition:
The perimeter of the shape in coverage units.  In the distributed
file, coverage units represent decimal degrees.
Attribute_Definition_Source:
National Atlas of the United States
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Range_Domain:
Range_Domain_Minimum:0.00857
Range_Domain_Maximum:261.67570
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:Ecoomrp075
Attribute_Definition:
Internal feature number.
Attribute_Definition_Source:
National Atlas of the United States
Attribute_Domain_Values:
Range_Domain:
Range_Domain_Minimum:2
Range_Domain_Maximum:3076
Attribute:
Attribute_Label:LEVEL3_NAM
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Distribution_Information:
Distributor:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Organization_Primary:
Contact_Organization:Earth Science Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey
Contact_Address:
Address_Type:Mailing address
Address:
507 National Center
City:Reston
State_or_Province:VA
Postal_Code:20192
Contact_Voice_Telephone:1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747)
Contact_Voice_Telephone:703-648-5920
Contact Instructions:
In addition to the address above there are other ESIC offices throughout
the country. A full list of these offices is at
<http://geography.usgs.gov/esic/esic_index.html>.
Resource_Description:Downloadable Data
Distribution_Liability:
Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at
the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made by the
U.S. Geological Survey regarding the utility of the data on any other
system, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.  No
responsibility is assumed by the U.S. Geological Survey in the use of these
data.
Standard_Order_Process:
Digital_Form:
Digital_Transfer_Information:
Format_Name:ESRI Shapefile
Transfer_Size:13.446
Digital_Transfer_Option:
Online_Option:
Computer_Contact_Information:
Network_Address:
Network_Resource_Name: <http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html>
Digital_Form:
Digital_Transfer_Information:
Format_Name:SDTS
Transfer_Size:13.446
Digital_Transfer_Option:
Online_Option:
Computer_Contact_Information:
Network_Address:
Network_Resource_Name: <http://nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html>
Fees:There is no charge for this map layer.
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Distribution_Information:
Distributor:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Organization_Primary:
Contact_Organization:Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment
Contact_Address:
Address_Type:mailing address
Address:
115 Land and Water building
City:University Park
State_or_Province:Pennsylvania
Postal_Code:16802
Country:United States
Contact_Voice_Telephone:(814) 865 - 8792
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address:pasda@psu.edu
Resource_Description:downloadabledata
Distribution_Liability:
The USER shall indemnify, save harmless, and, if requested, defend those parties involved with the development and distribution of this data, their officers, agents, and employees from and against any suits, claims, or actions for injury, death, or property damage arising out of the use of or any defect in the FILES or any accompanying documentation. Those parties involved with the development and distribution excluded any and all implied warranties, including warranties or merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose and makes no warranty or representation, either express or implied, with respect to the FILES or accompanying documentation, including its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for a particular purpose. The FILES and documentation are provided "as is" and the USER assumes the entire risk as to its quality and performance. Those parties involved with the development and distribution of this data will not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the FILES or any accompanying documentation.
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Metadata_Reference_Information:
Metadata_Date:20070524
Metadata_Contact:
Contact_Information:
Contact_Person_Primary:
Contact_Person:Peg Rawson
Contact_Organization:National Atlas of the United States
Contact_Address:
Address_Type:Mailing address
Address:
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive
Address:
MS-561
City:Reston
State_or_Province:VA
Postal_Code:20192
Contact_Voice_Telephone:703-648-4183
Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address:atlasmail@usgs.gov
Metadata_Standard_Name:FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Metadata_Standard_Version:FGDC-STD-001-1998
Metadata_Time_Convention:local time
Metadata_Security_Information:
Metadata_Security_Classification_System:None
Metadata_Security_Classification:Unclassified
Metadata_Security_Handling_Description:
None
Metadata_Extensions:
Online_Linkage:
Profile_Name:ESRI Metadata Profile
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