Explore the Ecoregions

This ecological region occupies the northeastern fringe of the Northwest Territories and Labrador and contains the northernmost mountainous area in North America. The eastern Arctic mountains have some of the most spectacular alpine glacial scenery in the world. The harsh climate, rugged terrain and low biological productivity are among its distinguishing characteristics. 

This is the largest Arctic level I ecological region on the continent. It covers northern Alaska, Yukon, the Arctic islands of Canada, portions of the mainland of the Northwest Territories, and northern Québec. The region has a reputation of being a desolate, cold, dry and desert-like setting but in reality, the landscape is diverse, ranging from vast grassland-like plains to stark, bold mesas; from ice covered lakes to snow-free uplands; and the climate ranges from long, dark, cold winters to short, cool summers with long periods of daylight. Spring and summer bring a sudden greening of the landscape. 

This ecological region lies on both sides of Hudson Bay. The eastern segment occupies the central part of Quebec and Labrador, while the western segment covers portions of northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia as well as the southern Northwest Territories. Overall, it encompasses much of Canada’s northern boreal forest and is underlain by the ancient bedrock of the Canadian Shield. 

The Hudson Plains ecological region is centered in northern Ontario and extends into northeastern Manitoba and western Quebec. Wetlands cover 90 percent of this ecological region, making it the largest wetland-dominated area of North America. In fact, this region contains the longest stretch of shallow, emergent wetland shoreline on Earth. 

This ecological region is broad and crescent-shaped, extending from northern Saskatchewan east to Newfoundland and south to Pennsylvania—lying to the north of the Eastern Temperate Forests region. It is distinguished by extensive boreal forests and a high density of lakes situated on the Canadian Shield. Despite having many urban areas, highways, railways, roads and airports, much of this ecological region remains a relative wilderness. 

This ecological region extends from Alaska south through southern Yukon, interior British Columbia and the Alberta foothills, through northern California and over into Nevada. It contains the highest mountains of North America and some of the continent’s most diverse mosaics of ecosystem types, ranging from alpine tundra to dense conifer forests to dry sagebrush and grasslands. There are major river systems, including the headwaters to both the Fraser and Columbia rivers. The basis for aggregating all this diversity into one ecological region is topographic—the chains of mountains that traverse its whole length. 

This ecological region covers the mainland and offshore islands of the Pacific Coast from Alaska south to northern California. The wettest climates of North America occur in this area.  It is characterized by mountainous topography bordered by coastal plains and contains all of the temperate rain forests found in North America. These forests are among the most productive in North America, making forestry the major resource activity. 

This ecological region extends from the Great Lakes in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. From the Atlantic Coast, it extends westward approximately 620 km into eastern Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota. The region is distinguished by its moderate to mildly humid climate, its relatively dense and diverse forest cover, and its high density of human inhabitants that approximates 160 million. 

The Great Plains ecological region is found in the central part of the continent and extends over the widest latitudinal range of any single North American ecological region. It is a relatively continuous and roughly triangular area covering about 3.5 million square kilometers. The North American prairies extend for about 1,500 km from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada, south through the Great Plains of the United States to southern Texas and adjacent Mexico, and approximately 600 km from western Indiana to the foothills of the Rockies and into northeastern Mexico. This ecological region is distinguished particularly by the following characteristics: relatively little topographic relief; grasslands and a paucity of forests; and sub humid to semiarid climate. 

The North American Deserts ecological region extends from eastern British Columbia in the north, to Baja California and north central Mexico in the south. The region is distinguished from the adjacent forested mountain ecological region by its aridity, its unique shrub and cactus vegetation with a lack of trees, and generally lower relief and elevations. 

This relatively small ecological region extends 1,300 km from Oregon in the north to Baja California Norte state in the south. It abuts the Pacific Ocean on the west and the Sierra Nevada and deserts to the east. It is distinguished by its warm and mild Mediterranean climate, its shrubland vegetation of chaparral mixed with areas of grassland and open oak woodlands, its agriculturally productive valleys and its high population (30 million) in extensive urban agglomerations. 

This region extends over part of the states of Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and southward over several states in northern, western and central Mexico. In Mexico, this region is bounded on the west by the Temperate Sierras and on the east by the North American Deserts ecological region. The landscape is composed of hills, bottom valleys and plains. In general, the vegetation within this region is dominated by grasslands and in the transition zones by various scrublands and forests. 

This ecological region comprises the major Mexican mountains including the Western Sierra Madre, the Eastern Sierra Madre, the Nudo Mexteco in western Oaxaca and Chiapas. Overall, the region covers approximately 25 percent of the land area of Mexico. Many of the major cities of the country are located here, including Mexico, Guadalajara, Morelia, Toluca and Puebla. 

This ecological region stretches in a narrow and interrupted strip from Eastern Sonora and Southeastern Chihuahua to Chiapas; at Michoacán it includes the Balsas Basin. In the Tehuantepec isthmus, it splits to embrace the Central Chiapas Depression where it stretches along the Pacific to Central America and the northern extreme of South America. It also occupies the Northern Gulf Coastal Plain, the north of the Yucatán Peninsula and the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula, covering almost 13 percent of Mexico. 

This ecological region includes the southern tip of the Florida Peninsula in the United States.  Within Mexico, it encompasses the Gulf Coastal Plain, the western and southern part of the Pacific Coastal Plain, most of the Yucatán Peninsula and the lowlands of the Chiapas Sierra Madre, which continue south to Central and South America.