Ecosections are areas with minor physiographic and macroclimatic or oceanographic variations. There are 114 ecosections in British Columbia varying from pure marine units to pure terrestrial units. Ecosections are meant to be mapped at small scales (1:250,000) for resource emphasis and area planning

An ecoprovince is an area with consistent climatic or oceanography, relief and regional landforms. There one oceanic, two marine / terrestrial and seven terrestrial ecoprovinces occurring within British Columbia. Ecoprovinces are meant to be mapped at 1:2,000,000 for use in provincial state of the environment reporting

Ecodomains are areas broad climatic uniformity, defined at the global level

Ecodivisions are areas of broad climatic and physiographic uniformity, defined at the continental level.

The “Terrestrial Ecoregions of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecoregions. An ecoregion is a subdivision of an ecoprovince and is characterized by distinctive regional ecological factors, including climate, physiography, vegetation, soil, water, and fauna. For example, the Maritime Barrens ecoregion (no. 114) is one of nine ecoregions within the Newfoundland ecoprovince.

A list of the various 'regional' (zone/subzone/variant/phase) ecological units of the current biogeoclimatic ecosystem classification. At this 'regional' level, vegetation, soils and topography are used to infer the climate and to identify geographic areas that have relatively uniform climate. These geographic areas are termed biogeoclimatic units. The basic biogeoclimatic unit is the Subzone. These units are grouped into Zones and may be further subdivided into variants based on further refinements of climate (e.g., wetter, drier, snowier). The map units of the Biogeoclimatic map are mapped to the highest possible thematic resolution - subzone or variant. In some cases, where further sampling is required to define the unit climatically, polygons are labelled as an undifferentiated unit (e.g. CWH un)

The current and most detailed version of the approved corporate provincial digital Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) Zone/Subzone/Variant/Phase map (version 12, September 2, 2021). Use this version when performing GIS analysis regardless of scale. This mapping is deliberately extended across the ocean, lakes, glaciers, etc to facilitate intersection with a terrestrial landcover layer of your choice

The “Terrestrial Ecoprovinces of Canada” dataset provides representations of ecoprovinces. An ecoprovince is a subdivision of an ecozone and is characterized by major assemblages of structural or surface forms, faunal realms, and vegetation, hydrology, soil, and macro climate. For example, the Newfoundland ecoprovince (no. 6.4) is one of six ecoprovinces within the Boreal Shield Ecozone