Skip to contents

Download and load US Level 4 Ecoregions

Source: R/get_eco.R
get_usl4eco.Rd

Downloads and loads US EPA Level 4 Ecoregion boundaries as a spatial object, optionally including state boundaries.

Usage

get_usl4eco(
  state = FALSE,
  output = c("sf", "vect", "terra"),
  cache = FALSE,
  verbose = TRUE
)

Arguments

state

logical(1) when TRUE, the dataset with state boundaries dissolved into the ecoregion polygons is returned. Defaults to FALSE.

output

character(1) class of the returned spatial object. Either "sf" (default) or "vect" / "terra" for a terra::SpatVector.

cache

logical(1) or character(1). Controls where the ZIP is cached. FALSE (the default) uses a temporary directory that is cleaned up when the R session ends. TRUE uses the platform user cache directory (tools::R_user_dir("fireR", "cache")). Supply a directory path as a string to specify a custom location.

verbose

logical(1) print progress messages.

Value

An sf object or terra::SpatVector of US Level 4 Ecoregion polygons.

Details

The US EPA ecoregion framework classifies areas of the United States by similarity of ecosystems and environmental resources. Level 4 provides the finest sub-divisions in the US ecoregion hierarchy, capturing local ecological patterns within Level 3 regions. These are commonly used for site-level assessments and detailed environmental monitoring. Data are sourced from the US EPA Office of Research and Development.

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
eco <- get_usl4eco()
eco_state <- get_usl4eco(state = TRUE)
eco_terra <- get_usl4eco(output = "vect")
} # }