The RACER method has so far been piloted in two terrestrial and two marine ecoregions in the Russian and Canadian Arctic. The tests have been successful in identifying areas of climate change resilience but also with regard to improving the method, and engaging top level scientists and regional experts in this novel thinking. On this page we have compiled some data from this work-in-progress, which WWF hopes will inform spatial planning and decision making in ongoing and upcoming national or regional planning and management processes.
Ecoregion assessments
Aerial photograph of expanses of polygonal tundra in the Lena Delta Nature Reserve, Siberia, Russian Federation.
Beaufort Sea – continental coast and shelf (M27)
The Beaufort Sea Ecoregion (M27, on WWF’s RACER ecoregion map [jpg, 4.62 MB]) stretching along the northwestern Canadian and northern Alaska coast is biologically rich.The ecoregion’s few major rivers, including the Mackenzie River in Canada and the Colville River in Alaska, as well as many smaller watercourses deliver vast amounts of ecologically important nutrients, sediments, and freshwater to the shelf.
The Mackenzie River, for example, is responsible for a large estuarine system over the Canadian portions of this shelf and ranks fourth among circum-Arctic marine systems for freshwater input and first for sediment.
The Beaufort Sea ecoregion is featured in the RACER handbook [pdf, 2.65 MB] as an example case study.
M27 ECOREGION DOCUMENTS
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M27 map of key features
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M27 - table of key features and drivers
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M27 Beaufort Sea coast and shelf bathymetry
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M27 ecoregion characteristics
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M27 system schematic
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M27 watershed and bathymetry of study area
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M27 climate models - ocean surface salinity and temperature
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M27 climate models - precipitation and surface temperature
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M27 climate models - sea ice thickness and concentration
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M27 climate models - soil moisture content and amount of snow
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M27 marine net primary productivity map
Laptev Sea, Russia (M41)
The Laptev Sea Ecoregion (M41, on WWF’s RACER ecoregion map [jpg, 4.62 MB]) on the central Russian arctic coast is made up to a large degree of the Siberian shelf with an average depth of around 53m.The coastline is characterised by several estuaries and there are many islands in the Laptev Sea, especially in its western part. The Laptev Sea ecoregion is home to many arctic marine mammals, including the Laptev walrus, a population of walrus proposed but not commonly accepted as a distinctive subspecies (Odobenus rosmarus laptevi) that winters in the area where they can feed in the open water of the Great Siberian Polynya.
m41 ecoregion documents
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M41 ecoregion characteristics
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M41 Laptev Sea bathymetry
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M41 system schematic
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M41 climate models - sea ice thickness and concentration
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M41 climate models - soil moisture content and amount of snow
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M41 climate models - ocean salinity and temperature
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M41 climate models - precipitation and surface temperature
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M41 marine net primary productivity map
Central Canada, Canada (T4)
The Central Canada Ecoregion (T4, on WWF’s RACER ecoregion map [jpg, 4.62 MB]) is a tundra ecosystem, characterised by lowland plains covered with glacial moraine, which stretches from the Canadian mainland in the South across the islands of the central and western parts of the high arctic archipelago.Herbs and lichens dominate the ground cover, but on the mainland tundra shrubs also occur (including dwarf birch, heaths, willows). Largely polar desert conditions are common in the high arctic islands. Short summer period and cool conditions likely reduces predation pressure and insect harassment for concentrations of breeding birds and mammals.
t4 ecoregion documents
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T4 map of key features
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T4 map of key features for Continental region
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T4 ecoregion characteristics
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T4 system schematic
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T4 topography
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T4 climate models - sea ice thickness and concentration
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T4 climate models - soil moisture content and amount of snow
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T4 climate models - ocean surface salinity and temperature
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T4 climate models - precipitation and surface temperature
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T4 Map of overlapping areas of significant net primary productivity and known biological significance
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T4 Map of landform heterogeneity output percentiles
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Map of NDVI percentiles
East Chukotka, Russia (T5)
The Eastern Chukotka Ecoregion (T5, on WWF’s RACER ecoregion map [jpg, 4.62 MB]) is home to a unique combination of vegetation types and plant communities, and its overall geographical features, zoogeography and landscapes bear witness of its history as a land bridge between Eurasia and America.This history has resulted in a biogeographic exchange between the continents with relic biota (for example cryophilic steppe) still found within the ecoregion.
t5 ecoregion documents
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T5 table and map of key areas
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T5 CAVM vegetation classes
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T5 ecoregion characteristics
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T5 ecoregion characteristics
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T5 list of references
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T5 map of heterogeneity analysis
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T5 climate models - precipitation and surface temperature
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T5 climate models - sea ice thickness and concentration
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T5 climate models - soil moisture content and amount of snow
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T5 climate models - ocean surface salinity and temperature
