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Professional Paper 1650–G

Atlas of Relations Between Climatic Parameters and Distributions of Important Trees and Shrubs in North America—Revisions for all Taxa from the United States and Canada and New Taxa from the Western United States

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Abbreviations for Climatic and Bioclimatic Variables

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

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