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Pacific Marine Ecological Classification System and its Application to the Northern and Southern Shelf Bioregions

Description:

Biophysical Units:

Under the Pacific Marine Ecological Classification System (PMECS; DFO 2016; Rubidge et al. 2016), biophysical units are areas of distinct physiographic and oceanographic conditions and processes that shape species composition at spatial extents of 1000s of km.

Geomorphic units:

Geomorphic units or geozones are discrete geomorphological structures at the scale of 100s of km that are assumed to have distinctive biological assemblages (e.g., plateaus, ridges, seamounts, canyons). Although the spatial scale of geomorphic units is nested within biophysical units, a single geomorphic unit such as a trough may span more than one biophysical unit.

The following 5 layers are included in this geodatabase:

1. Biophysical_Units_L4A - Predicted PMECS Biophysical Units (Level 4A) output from the random forest analysis

2. Biophysical_Units_L4B - Predicted PMECS Biophysical Units (Level 4B) output from the random forest analysis

3. Biophysical_Units_ProbAssign_L4AB - Layer showing the probability that a grid cell was assigned to a given biophysical unit in the final random forest predictive modelling step

4. Cluster_L4AB - Layer showing the output of species assemblage cluster analysis

5. Geomorphic_Units - Geomorphic units for the BC coast that combines geomorphic units produced by Rubidge et al. 2016) and Proudfoot and Robb (2022).

Methods:

Biophysical Units:

Rubidge et al. (2016) used a two-step process to identify biophysical units in British Columbia. First, a cluster analysis based on the similarity of species composition was used to group sites with similar species into distinct biological assemblages. Second, a random forest analysis was used to identify environmental correlates of the biological assemblages identified by the cluster analysis and to predict and assign the biological assemblage present in areas with too few biological data. Two different similarity thresholds were used to identify two levels (4A, 4B) of biophysical units; see Rubidge et al. (2016) for details. Indicator species for each assemblage (biophysical unit) were also identified.

Geomorphic units:

Rubidge et al. (2016) used the benthic terrain modeller (BTM) tool with broad and fine-scale benthic positioning index (BPI) parameters to define geomorphic units on the continental shelf in the Northern Shelf Bioregion and the continental slope in both the Northern Shelf Bioregion and Southern Shelf Bioregion. In 2022, geomorphic units were produced for the Strait of Georgia and Southern Shelf Bioregions following the same methods as Rubidge et al. (2016) (Proudfoot and Robb 2022). The geomorphic units produced as part of the PMECS process were merged with the geomorphic units produced for the Strait of Georgia and Southern Shelf bioregions to produce a continuous spatial data product representing geomorphic units for the Canadian Pacific continental shelf and slope. After merging, the geomorphic units produced in 2016 were unchanged (i.e., they are consistent with the original geomorphic units described in Rubidge et al. 2016).

Data Sources:

From Rubidge et al. (2016): Species data was taken from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) standardized fisheries-independent research surveys: groundfish trawl and long-line (2003-2013), Tanner Crab trawl and trap (2000–2006), and Dungeness Crab trap (2000–2014). Environmental data came from NASA, the Canadian Hydrographic Service, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Bio-ORACLE, and elsewhere (details in Rubidge et al. 2016). From Proudfoot and Robb (2022): bathymetry data came from Natural Resources Canada (details in Proudfoot and Robb 2022).

Uncertainties:

The data is intended for use at the bioregional scale, and caution should be used for finer-scale analyses.

Simple

Date ( RI_367 )
2021-03-30
Date ( RI_366 )
2016-05-01
Date ( RI_368 )
2022-08-17
Date ( RI_368 )
2023-09-18
Date ( RI_368 )
2024-10-29
RI_415
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Science - Janelle Curtis ( Program Head, Ecological Modelling )
Pacific Biological Station, 3190 Hammond Bay Road , Nanaimo , British Columbia , V9T 6N7 , Canada
250-756-7157
RI_415
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Science/MSEA Section - Emily Rubidge ( Research Scientist )
9860 West Saanich Road, P.O. Box 6000 , Sidney , British Columbia , V8L 5T5 , Canada
604-822-8419
Credit
Rubidge, E., Gale, K.S.P., Curtis, J.M.R., McClelland, E., Feyrer, L., Bodtker, K., and Robb, C. 2016. Methodology of the Pacific Marine Ecological Classification System and its application to the Northern and Southern Shelf Bioregions. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2016/035: xi + 124 p.
Status
completed; complété RI_593

Point of contact

No information provided.
Maintenance and update frequency
asNeeded; auBesoin RI_540
Keywords ( RI_528 )
  • Marine Protected Area (MPA)
  • Marine protected area network
  • Northern Shelf Bioregion
  • Southern Shelf Bioregion
  • Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area (EBSA)
  • Ecological classifications
  • Bottom substrate
  • Strait of Georgia Bioregion
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus Thésaurus des sujets de base du gouvernement du Canada ( RI_528 )
  • Habitats
  • Oceans
Classification
unclassified; nonClassifié RI_484
Use limitation
Open Government Licence - Canada (http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada)
Access constraints
license; licence RI_606
Use constraints
license; licence RI_606
Spatial representation type
vector; vecteur RI_635
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Topic category
  • Oceans
  • Environment
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S
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W
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Begin date
2003-01-01
End date
2022-12-31
Reference system identifier
https://epsg.io / EPSG:4326 /
Topology level
geometryOnly; géométrieUniquement RI_662
Distribution format
  • FGDB/GDB ( Unknown )

  • SHP ( Unknown )

  • PDF ( Unknown )

RI_412
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Science/MSEA Section - Katie Gale ( GIS Analyst/Biologist )
9860 West Saanich Road P.O. Box 6000 , Sidney , British Columbia , V8L 5T5 , Canada
250-363-6411
OnLine resource
Data Dictionary ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng,fra

OnLine resource
References ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng,fra

OnLine resource
PMECS_geodatabase ( HTTPS )

Dataset;FGDB/GDB;eng,fra

OnLine resource
CSAS Science Advisory Report 2016/003 ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng

OnLine resource
CSAS Research Document 2016/035 [in English only] ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng

OnLine resource
CSAS Science Advisory Report 2016/003 ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
PMECS_Shapefiles ( HTTPS )

Dataset;SHP;eng,fra

OnLine resource
PMECS GIS Hub metadata ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng

OnLine resource
PMECS GIS Hub metadata ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

OnLine resource
Pacific Marine Ecological Classification System (PMECS) ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;eng

OnLine resource
Pacific Marine Ecological Classification System (PMECS) ( ESRI REST: Map Server )

Web Service;ESRI REST;fra

OnLine resource
Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3459 ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;eng

OnLine resource
Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 3459 ( HTTPS )

Supporting Document;PDF;fra

Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
File identifier
abbfe250-8202-4822-8bd1-aaaf393bbfd5 XML
Metadata language
eng; CAN
Character set
utf8; utf8 RI_458
Hierarchy level
dataset; jeuDonnées RI_622
Date stamp
2025-02-04T20:25:46.401Z
Metadata standard name
North American Profile of ISO 19115:2003 - Geographic information - Metadata
Metadata standard version
CAN/CGSB-171.100-2009
RI_408
  Government of Canada; Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Science/MSEA Section - Katie Gale ( GIS Analyst/Biologist )
Institute of Ocean Sciences 9860 West Saanich Road P.O. Box 6000 , Sidney , British Columbia , V8L 5T5 , Canada
250-363-6411
 
 

Overviews

overview
PMECS_biophys_geomorph_thumbnail.png

Spatial extent

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E
W
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Keywords


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Associated resources

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