An objective methodology for the classification of ecological pattern into biomes and provinces for the pelagic ocean

Based on the view of ecological pattern being steady state, rather than an equilibrium phenomenon, we assert that, if real, ecological biomes and provinces in the ocean should be detectable in surface fields obtained from satellite data as coherent, co-varying spatial regions with a high degree of permanence. Likewise, hierarchy is an important property of ecological systems that should be exhibited by such patterns if they represent real ecological structure. In this paper, we apply a combination of multivariate statistics and classification techniques to a time series of satellite-derived, surface-ocean chlorophyll data from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), (a) to provide an objective characterisation and classification of ecological pattern in the ocean and (b) to investigate the characteristic system properties (persistence, hierarchy) of the broad-scale patterns observed to test whether they behave as autonomous ecological systems. Comparison of this classification with Longhurst [Longhurst, A. (1998), Ecological Geography of the Sea. San Diego: Academic Press, 398 pp.] suggests the need for equatorial forcing processes to be taken into account to explain observed ecological pattern at the biome level.