More handpicked essays just for you.
What are the human impact on the ecosystem
What are the human impact on the ecosystem
What are the human impact on the ecosystem
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Boreal Shield is Canada’s largest ecosystem, and accounts for around 20% of the country’s total land area. At a total of 1.8 million kilometres squared, it is almost as big as Canada’s largest territory (Nunavut-1.9 million kilometres squared), and stretches from Saskatchewan in the west to Newfoundland and Labrador in the east. The Boreal Shield gets its name from the fact that it is part of the immense Canadian Shield, and that the majority of the surface is covered in Boreal forests. The intersection of these two enormous areas has resulted in the creation of the ecozone that many people think of when they imagine Canada.
Landform Region The Canadian Shield, of which the Boreal Shield is a major part of, is some of the oldest land
…show more content…
Across the Shield, you can see a ‘mosaic’ of patches of forest that were once burned down, and have younger trees than their neighbours. Although fire often destroys large tracts of forest it also renews the landscape by triggering new growth, killing of bugs, insects, and other pests, and giving both animal and plant life a new habitat, and a fresh start.
Throughout the Boreal Shield, mixed in with the vast forests, are thousand of bogs, marshes, and other wetlands. These wetlands cover the remaining 20% of the land, and are considered by many to be some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in all of Canada.
Animal Life
Despite cool climate, and shortage of variety in plant life, many animals have managed to make the Boreal Shield their home. There is an abundance of waterways in the Boreal Shield, which are home to hundreds of thousands of ducks, loons, geese, and swans. The wetlands are also home to the Beaver, Muskrat, and
…show more content…
Some of the more characteristic species include the Woodland Caribou, White-tailed Deer, Moose, Black Bear, Wolf, Lynx, Snowshoe Hare, and Striped Skunk.
Human Activities The Boreal Shield is vital to the Canadian economy, due to the massive amounts of natural resources that it can provide. Due to the sheer size of the region, we still have an enormous amount of resources yet to exploit, and if we carry out economic practices in a sustainable fashion, there is no reason that the Boreal Shield can not help fuel the Canadian economy for decades to
Isle Royal is located fifty-six miles north of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. It is the largest wilderness area in Michigan (USNPS, 2014). The island is surrounded by Lake Superior, which creates a cooler temperature. This results in arctic plant species growth on the island. There are only eighteen mammal species present on the island because most mammals cannot make the trip across the frozen great lake (USNPS, 2014). The need for an ice bridge is not the only environmental factor that is stopping the migration of animals; there is also the severe cold, and also wind and fog (Vucetich, 2012). Some species such as caribou and coyote have found the island to be too intense and have gone extinct (Vucetich, 2012). Due to the harsh weather and isolation of the island, humans have never regularly lived on the island (Vucetich, 2012). Some of species that are present such as the red squirrel are becoming their own subspecies due to its separation from the mainland (USNPS, 2014). The isolation of Isle Royal is what makes it a great place to conduct research, it has very low human interaction and the species that are on the island will have been and continue to be isolated from the mainland.
Canada's heartland is southern Ontario and Quebec stretching from Quebec City to Windsor. This heartland, occupying the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Lowlands, coincides with several favourable physical characteristics such as fertile Class 1 and 2 soils in addition to humid continental climate for optimal agricultural conditions. However, the "hinterland regions display harsher or more limiting physical characteristics. The Cordillera, Interior Plains, Canadian Shield, and Appalachian regions yield tremendous resource wealth, but their soils,
We don’t often stop to consider the impact that simply living our human lives has on the other species that once called our neighbourhoods their home. The Fraser Valley, “one of the most important and complex ecosystems in the country” (Thom, p. 171), has been dramatically altered to make a more convenient landscape for housing and farming. In this process, critical habitat has been destroyed and many species that were once abundant have disappeared from our area (Cuthbert p. 24). Urbanization is ongoing and is thought to be the most significant threat to the incredible biodiversity found throughout British Columbia, and particularly the population-dense Lower Mainland (Harding, p. 355). Biodiversity, the “complex web that sustains life on this planet” (Austin, et al., p. 5), is vital for our survival as humans (Cuthbert p. 74). Any loss of biodiversity affects the entire ecosystem and all organisms within it (Fetene et al., p. 52). In the quest to house the ever-expanding human population, we must also consider habitat conservation and seek to preserve the rich biodiversity found in the Fraser Valley that supports and enriches our lives.
The Canadian Shield is a landform region that covers almost more than half of Canada, it was formed about 3 billion years ago and was formed by volcanic eruptions. The Canadian Shield has some of the world's oldest rocks and has a lot of trees, lakes and rivers, some things the Canadian Shield provides us with is minerals, water from hydroelectric power and trees. it is a medium populated area and the population is very scattered, most of the people live in the southern area.
Dheeraj Patel Journey Around Canada 2. How do the natural characteristics of Canada influence human activity, and how might human activity influence Canada’s natural characteristics? (B1) In the Central part of Canada there are many different human activities that affect natural characteristics. In the Central part of Canada there are many interior plains landforms.
http://eaglenet.lambuth.edu/facultyweb/science/biology/RCook/community%20ecologyS10.pdf. Impacts on the Biodiversity. Quebec Biodiversity Website -. Web. The Web.
Chapter 2: Canada’s Physical Base emphasizes reasoning for which its physical geography attributes to its regional geography, along with the population distribution and developing core regions. This chapter outlines main geological structure, landforms, climate, and impact on human a...
Now, sustainable development and quality of life are crucial to the well being of our nation. Thus, I have pondered many a year on this very important matter and have consulted a very knowing Canadian of my acquaintance at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The amount of natural resources in this country being usually reckoned infi...
Woodward, S.L. "Boreal Forest (Taiga)." Biomes of the World. N.p., 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Canada ruled the 20th century through science and technology and advanced more than any other country in this time period. Prime Minister Laurier was correct when he stated in his speech “that it is Canada that shall fill the 20th century.” Technology and science were one of the huge factors for Canada being a successful country compare to the world. In technology and science, there were many inventions that were developed in Canada that wowed the world and made Canada feel incredible. Even though war is sad and cruel, the crazy need to survive and the confidence to strive for success has made Canada’s technology and science advance greatly. During the near closing point of the 20th century, Canada’s environment and living is being more advanced and they are thinking about the future generations to come.
The tundra artic plains completely cover most of the earth’s lands north of the coniferous forest belt. The tundra’s ecosystem is very sensitive. It doesn’t have the ability to restore itself. Controlled by sedge, heath, willow, moss, and lichen. Plains that are pretty much alike, called alpine tundra, occur above the timberline in the high mountains of the world.
The Hudson Plains ecozone, in northern Ontario and parts of Manitoba and Quebec, is an area of wetlands. The climate is generally cool. The northern part of the ecozone is full of shrubs, but no trees, and areas farther south contain forests. Wet have vegetation such as moss and lichen and also some trees like willow, tamarack and black spruce. More northern, drier locations have vegetation consisting of many shrubs such as crowberry and blueberry. In the summer, the wetlands of the Hudson Plains attract millions of migratory birds, such as snow geese, Canada geese and king eider ducks. Mammals which can be found here include moose and black bear, but small mammals such as muskrats and weasels are more common.
Canada is a very large country, with areas of land in various climate regions, and land regions, thus having many ecozones that differentiate from another. The most populated ecozone in Canada is the Mixedwood Plains; the ecozone we are located in, named after the mixedwood forests that are native to the area. The Mixedwood Plains is one of the smallest of the Canadian ecozones, spanning only 175 963 kilometres squared. The Mixedwood Plains is bordered by three of the great lakes on the southern side of the ecozone, and comes up along the St Lawrence river to southern Quebec, and fills the tip of Ontario. It has rolling plains and small rock formations and escarpments. The Mixedwood Plains contains over half of the Canadian population as it contains some of Canada’s largest cities, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Windsor. The Mixedwood Plains has a relatively temperate climate with summers ranging an average temperature of 18o c – 22oc and winters ranging from -3oc - -110c.[2] Native mammals to the ecozone are black, brown and grizzly bears, grey wolves, coyotes and foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and other small mammals. Avian species include brown sparrow, hawks, crows, cardinals and bluejays. Fish are bass, trout, carp and pike. The Mixedwood Plains is made up of about 40% water, and contains over 20% of the worlds freshwater. One of the major problems in the world today is freshwater shortage. Because we have ample supply, we don’t notice, but much of the world is short on water. There are more water resources, but one of the largest is being quickly polluted and populated by invasive species .
Humans have been changing the Western forests' fire system since the settlement by the Europeans and now we are experiencing the consequences of those changes. During the summer of 2002, 6.9 million acres of forests was burnt up in the West (Wildland Fires, 1). This figure is two times the ten year annual average, and it does not look like next summer will be any better (Wildfire Season, 1). Foresters have been trying to restore the forests back to their original conditions by thinning and prescribed fires but have encountered countless delays. Politicians are proposing sweeping changes in bills, which have caused great controversy, in efforts to correct the problems that the Forest Service has faced in restoration projects. Are these bills necessary or is there a better solution that politicians are overlooking?
Human activities in both ecozones are similar yet different. The Mixedwood Plains Ecozone is the most densely populated ecozone in the country, with its major cities being Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Hamilton, Windsor and London. In 2004, the Mixedwood Plains had a population of 15.6 million, as well as a GDP of $325 billion. It’s most valuable industries are agriculture and food, service, tourism and recreation, as well as service and manufacturing. St. John’s, Chicoutimi, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, and Thompson are the major cities of the Boreal Shield Ecozone . The population totalled 2.8 million in 2004, and also had a GDP of 49 billion. Its most significant industries are hydro generation, forestry, fishery, mining, recreation, trapping, and tourism.