Professional Paper 1650–G
Abbreviations for Climatic and Bioclimatic Variables |
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| α | moisture index defined as AE/PE | AE/PE | mean actual evaporation divided by potential evaporation (millimeters per millimeters [mm/mm]) | ANNP | mean annual precipitation (mm) | ANNT | mean annual temperature (degrees Celsius [°C]) | GDD5 | mean growing-degree days (on a 5-°C base) | MTCO | mean temperature of the coldest month (°C) | MTWA | mean temperature of the warmest month (°C) | MPDR | mean precipitation of the driest month (mm) | MPWE | mean precipitation of the wettest month (mm) | TMAX | absolute maximum temperature (°C) | TMIN | absolute minimum temperature (°C) |
Other Abbreviations and Definitions |
Bioclimate | variables that are interpreted, calculated, or selected from traditional meteorological data (includes α, GDD5, MTCO, MTWA, MPDR, MPWE, TMAX, and TMIN) | CANUSA | Canada and the continental United States | Conifers | gymnosperms ("softwoods") of the order Pinales; in this volume these include taxa in the families Cupressaceae, Pinaceae, and Taxaceae | Ecoregion | World Wildlife Fund defines an ecoregion as a "large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species, natural communities, and environmental conditions" | Evaporation | This term "... denotes the combined vaporization of water from vegetation and soil, and it has the same meaning as the alternative term evapotranspiration" (Brutsaert, 2013, p. 3054) | Evapotranspiration | see evaporation | GIS | geographic information system | Latin America | In this volume, this geographic term refers only to those areas of Mexico and Central America that were covered in previous volumes of this atlas but that are omitted here | MHT | Major habitat type—World Wildlife Fund defines major habitat types as "... areas of the world that share similar environmental conditions, habitat structure, and patterns of biological complexity, and that contain similar communities and species adaptations" | new distribution | A geographic distribution of a taxon not included in previous volumes of this atlas | nonconifers | As used here: angiosperms ("hardwoods") and Ephedra | redigitized distribution | A geographic distribution for a taxon that was included in a previous volume of this atlas whose range boundaries were redigitized with newer GIS technology | remapped distribution | A geographic distribution for a taxon that was included in a previous volume of this atlas whose range boundaries were modified based on new information (and were digitized with improved GIS technology) | seasonality | As used here: the amplitude of the difference between the warmest and coldest or wettest and driest months of the year | Southwest | As used here: the continental United States west of 100°W. and south of 42°N. | species richness | As used here: the number of species at a given grid point | WWF | World Wildlife Fund |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
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