Overview

The Department of Natural Resources has prepared the Ecological Land Classification (ELC) to assist in the planning and management of sustainable forests. In this framework of mapped ecosystems the ELC provides an understanding of ecosystem form and function and the dependent biodiversity by linking the physical and biological environment of each system. Ecosystems on the landscape represent the effects of the interactions of climate, landform, water and soils and thus the distribution of biodiversity.

The key elements in the application of ecological land classification are as follows:

• an ELC incorporates all the major components of ecosystems, i.e. climate, water, land and biota
• the ELC is holistic since the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• the number and relative importance of factors helpful in delineating ecological units vary from one area to another, regardless of the level of generatlization
• the ELC is based on a hierarchy, with ecosystems nested within ecosystems
• an ELC involves integration of knowledge and is not simply an overlay
• an ELC recognizes that ecosystems are interactive and that characteristics of one ecosystem blend with those of another
• map lines in an ELC generally depict the location of zones of transition

Hierarchical Levels