User:Chidom/Biota
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This is one possible breakdown of regions/ecological units into categories. These are purely judgment calls on my part and make sense to me, but perhaps not to others. The lists are by no means comprehensive; I didn't attempt to detail each category/subcategory. (As this methodology may not be used, that level of detail would have been a monumental waste of time.) However, I would caution against much further subcategories for what I have listed (with the possible exception of further dividing this into Category:Flora of foo and Category:Fauna of foo). Any remaining categories/subcategories would parallel those given here.
Note that one possible way to use these would be to have the biota only be categorized in the lowest highest possible category; e.g., if it is biota that is common to every desert in the world, it would only be classified as biota of deserts; not every subcategory dependent on location, etc. There are many pro and con arguments for this usage; let's save those for after a methodology has been established. Thanks.—Chidom talk 20:10, 20 October 2006 (UTC)
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And perhaps: ?
- Category:Biota of grassland biomes
- Category:Biota of ________ biomes
- ... as well as other unique, specific ecological areas that aren't categorized above.
[edit] Notes
- ^ This is a definite geographical/ecological region and should have its own subcategory; however, I would not support subcategories of each individual state. Hawaii would also be categorized in Category:Biota of oceans (see below) as it is a group of islands
- ^ a b Greenland is classified geographically as an Arctic Island nation associated with the North American continent, but is more often considered to be a European country; it is a territory of Denmark.
- ^ a b Iceland is as confusing as Greenland, but is also generally considered to be a part of Europe; although it could also be listed in the Category:Biota of the North Atlantic.
- ^ The Great Britain category would be listed as part of the European category as it is more readily identified as a country rather than as an island. (See Category:Biota of oceans
- ^ Technically, this is comprised of parts of Africa and parts of Asia; some Biota may be difficult to assign to one or the other. This may be better known as the Middle East (which I have used here), but Category:Africa-Eurasia would probably be the more correct terminology for an encyclopedia.
- ^ I recommend including biodiverse smaller islands or island groups as subcategories of the oceans in which they are located, rather than creating Category:Islands.
- ^ Only mountain ranges with defined biota that differs from their surrounding environment, or differs from general mountain biota, should be listed as a subcategory, not every mountain and mountain range. I don't know that these examples would qualify; they are provided solely to give an idea of how the subcategories might be organized. For example, there are mountain ranges in the oceans; I have not listed that as a subcategory, as I'm unaware that biota of those mountain ranges differs significantly from the ocean biota.
- ^ I'm not sure these warrant any subcategories as to location. Why would you want to know how many or which volcanoes are in Europe, for example, when you can just search the category (which would be rather small) and find them that way? Or perhaps include lists by country?
- ^ Some of these mountain ranges continue into Canada and would remain in Category:Biota of mountains or mountain ranges of the Americas; others would be listed under their particular country (the Appalachian Mountains, for example, are completely within the United States. Mountains would be listed in the relevant country. (Some might prefer to also put individual mountains in a subcategory based on an individual state or territory.)
- ^ Lake Maracaibo is more properly classified as a bay; however, that may be confusing since the name includes the word "Lake".
- ^ The interior of Antarctica is the largest desert in the world; but is rarely classified as such.
- ^ Again, there are valleys in the oceans; it may be more worthwhile to have that as a subcategory given the diverse biota of places such as the Mariana Trench.
