Hierarchy of Classification Levels in Ecology Compared To Other Fields
This classification table shows the parallel classification terms in similar spatial scales used in the study of the biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems and the Earth.
- From largest at top to the smallest at bottom the classification levels are:
| Biotic | Abiotic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECOLOGY | BIOGEOGRAPHY | ZOOGEOGRAPHY | PHYTOGEOGRAPHY | PHYSIOGRAPHY | GEOLOGY | PEDOLOGY |
| ecosphere | biosphere | zoosphere | phytosphere | physiosphere | geosphere | pedosphere |
| ecozone | biome | zoozone (zoogeographic region) | floral kingdom | |||
| ecoprovince | bioprovince | zooprovince | floral province - phytochorion | geoprovince | ||
| ecoregion | bioregion | zooregion | floral region - floristic province | physioregion | georegion | pedoregion |
| ecodistrict | biodistrict | |||||
| ecosection | biosection | |||||
| ecosite | biosite | |||||
| ecotope (ecosystem sensu stricto?) | biotope‡ | zootope‡ | phytotope‡ | physiotope | geotope‡ | pedotope |
| ecoelement | bioelement | geoelement | ||||
| Sources: ‡ These words are all loanwords from German science. | ||||||
Read more about this topic: Ecological Land Classification
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