Temperate Northern Pacific

Short description: Biogeographic region of the Earth's seas

A pair of orcas breaching off the southern coast of Unimak Island, Alaska

The Temperate Northern Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the temperate waters of the northern Pacific Ocean.[1]

The Temperate Northern Pacific connects, via the Bering Sea, to the Arctic marine realm, which includes the polar waters of the Arctic Ocean. To the south, it transitions to the tropical marine realms of the Pacific, including the Tropical Eastern Pacific along the Pacific coast of the Americas, the Eastern Indo-Pacific in the central Pacific Ocean, and the Central Indo-Pacific of the western Pacific basin. The Taiwan Strait forms the boundary between the Temperate Northern Pacific and the Central Indo-Pacific.[1]

Characteristic fauna include the Pacific salmon and trout (Oncorhynchus spp.), gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus), and North Pacific right whale (Eubalaena japonica).

Coastal waters are home to kelp forests. Kelp forests extend along the west coast of North America from Alaska to Baja California.[2] Kelp are large brown algae which anchor to the sea floor. The dominant species are giant kelp (Macrocystis sp.), which can grow up to 60 metres (200 ft) tall, forming the canopy of the kelp forest and bouyed by air bladders or pneumatocysts at the base of their leaf-like blades. Bull kelp (Nereocystis sp.) is another common canopy species.[3] Species of Saccharina, Laminaria, and Eualaria fistulosa are the predominant kelp species along the coasts of the Russian Far East and Japan.[4] Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are native to kelp forests of the Temperate Northern Pacific, ranging from the Kuril Islands to Southern California.[3]

## Contents

* 1 Subdivisions
* 1.1 Cold Temperate Northwest Pacific
* 1.2 Warm Temperate Northwest Pacific
* 1.3 Cold Temperate Northeast Pacific
* 1.4 Warm Temperate Northeast Pacific
* 2 References

## Subdivisions

The Temperate Northern Pacific is further subdivided into marine provinces, and the marine provinces divided into marine ecoregions:[1]

### Cold Temperate Northwest Pacific

* Sea of Okhotsk
* Kamchatka Shelf and Coast
* Oyashio Current
* Northern Honshu
* Sea of Japan
* Yellow Sea

### Warm Temperate Northwest Pacific

* Central Kuroshio Current
* East China Sea

### Cold Temperate Northeast Pacific

* Aleutian Islands
* Gulf of Alaska
* North American Pacific Fjordland
* Puget Trough/Georgia Basin
* Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Coast and Shelf
* Northern California

### Warm Temperate Northeast Pacific

* Southern California Bight
* Cortezian
* Magdalena Transition

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–583. [1]
2. ↑ "Kelp Forest". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/visit/ecosystems/kelpdesc.html.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Kelp and Kelp Forests". Smithsonian – National Museum of Natural History. https://ocean.si.edu/kelp-and-kelp-forests.
4. ↑ Steneck, Robert; Graham, M. H.; Bourque, B. J.; Corbett, D.; Erlandson, J. M.; Estes, J. A.; and Tegner, M. J., Kelp Forest Ecosystems: Biodiversity, Stability, Resilience and Future (2002). Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship. 65. https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/sms_facpub/65

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Biogeographic regionalisations

Biomes|

| Terrestrial
biomes|

| Polar/montane|

* Tundra
* Taiga
* Montane grasslands and shrublands

|

Temperate|

* Coniferous forests
* Broadleaf and mixed forests
* Deciduous forests
* Grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Tropical and
subtropical|

* Coniferous forests
* Moist broadleaf forests
* Dry broadleaf forests
* Grasslands, savannas, and shrublands

Dry|

* Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
* Deserts and xeric shrublands

Wet|

* Flooded grasslands and savannas
* Riparian
* Wetland
* Mangrove

Aquatic
biomes|

* Pond
* Littoral
* Intertidal
* Mangroves
* Kelp forests
* Coral reefs
* Neritic zone
* Pelagic zone
* Benthic zone
* Hydrothermal vents
* Cold seeps
* Demersal zone

Other biomes|

* Endolithic zone

Biogeographic
realms|

| Terrestrial|

* Afrotropical
* Antarctic
* Australasian
* Indomalayan
* Nearctic
* Neotropical
* Oceanian
* Palearctic

|

Marine|

* Arctic
* Tropical Atlantic
* Central Indo-Pacific
* Western Indo-Pacific
* Temperate Northern Pacific
* Tropical Eastern Pacific
* Southern Ocean

Subdivisions|

* Biogeographic provinces
* Bioregions
* Ecoregions
* Lists of ecoregions
* Global 200 ecoregions

See also|

* Ecological land classification
* Floristic kingdoms
* Vegetation classifications
* Zoogeographic regions

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