They either directly influence or reflect the amounts of essential elements available. The relative importance placed on any one characteristic varies across the landscape and with the ECS level. At the Land Type Phase level a small number of representative plant species are used to identify individual plant communities and unit boundaries such as Sugar Maple-Basswood Forest. Allows more than one characteristic to be used for field identification of an unit. Helps to facilitate a better understanding about the interrelationships between natural resources and about ecological processes by showing characteristic patterns in a standard format.
Boundary lines vary in width.
Boundaries between ecological units can vary in width for a couple reasons. The first is that the width of a boundary line depends on how distinct the contrast is between adjacent ecosystems and the characteristics used to define them. A line represents an area of transition with characteristics of both ecosystems. For example, at the Province level, climate is a dominant characteristic in defining ecosystems. However, changes in climate are very gradual.