Waterton Lakes National Park
1.Describe the location of this ecozone in Canada. Which provinces? What part of that/those provinces?
Montane Cordillera covers 473 000 square kilometres of Canada, most of southeastern British Columbia and very little of southwestern Alberta. It surrounds the Alberta Foothills as well as the interior mountain ranges and valleys of British Columbia, such as the Okanagan and the East Kootenay valleys.
2.Name the landform regions included in this ecozone.
Montane Cordillera occupies the landform region called the Cordillera region, it involves mountains, plains and plateaus.
3.Describe the general characteristics of this landform region. What is it like? Describe it. Is there anything special or unique the
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The landscape of the Cordillera region contains long chains of high rugged mountains, such as the Rocky Mountains, and the Coastal Mountains. In addition, large areas are covered with forests and large bodies of water. The climate of the Cordillera region varies throughout different areas because of the mountains. Coastal temperatures tend to be warmer than those inland, and northern climates are cooler than southern climates. What is so special of the Cordillera region is its bast forestry, which is the biggest industry in the region, fishing, which is most famous for its salmon and mining such as iron, lead, zinc and silver, in which are the most significant industries of the landform region.
4. What type of soil is found in this ecozone. Describe it.
Soil regions of the Montane Cordillera include mostly Complex soils of mountain areas and Dry-climate soils. There are various types of soils in the Montane Cordillera because of the wide range of temperatures, rainfall, and elevations throughout the ecozone. However, the most common soil is Brunisol soil, which is typically located under the dry pine forests of south-central British Columbia but is not very good for agriculture because it is very acidic.
5. Name the climate regions included in this
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However, it is dominated by coniferous trees such as Engelmann spruce, Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir.
9. Has a lot of the natural vegetation in this ecozone been removed due to human activity (like development or resource extraction)? Explain your answer with examples.
Human activity such as the development of roads and railways have removed natural vegetation, and natural habitats. In addition, as many interior cities continue to grow, such as Prince George which has increased by 42% to 70000 and Kamloops increased by 55% to 68000, which will has led to extensive transportation. Thus, destroying a significant part of natural vegetation of the ecozone Montane Cordillera.
10. Which animals are found in abundance (which mean a lot) in this ecozone.
Montane Cordillera is an environment for a bast of animals, ranging from large herbivores like the caribou and mule deer to small carnivores like coyotes and minks. Birds of prey such as the short-eared owl, red-tailed hawk to shorebirds such as long-billed curlew, sandpiper and common sniper are very common. Amphibians and reptiles include the wood frog, long-toed salamander, and rubber boa. Fish species that live in Montane Cordillera include, lake whitefish, chiselmouth, leopard dace and redside shiner. In addition, molluscs such as pig-toe, western-river pearl mussel, arctic-alpine fingernail clam are common. Finally, there
The proposed territory of the South Okanagan- Similkameen National Park Reserve is located in the South Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys in southern British Columbia, currently comprised of five Provincial Protected Areas. These areas include the 4700 hectare Mt. Kobau Site situated on the height of land between the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys; the 1850 hectare Chopaka East Site situated on Black Mountain, between Richter Pass and the International Boundary; the 470 hectare Chopaka West Site situated between Richter Mountain and the International Boundary; the 2350 hectare Kilpoola Site situated north and south of Highway 3 including the southeast slopes of Mount Kobau, Blue Lake and Kruger Mountain to the International Boundary; and the 25889 hectare Snowy Protected Area situated between the Lower Similkameen Indian Reserve. These areas, with the exception of Snowy Protected Area, compose the South Okanagan Grasslands Protected Area. Potential future additions of Crown and private lands would possibly see large tracts of land north and south of Mt. Kobau along with tracts north and east of the existing boundaries of Snowy Protected Area.
The vegetation is mostly trees. There are many types of trees, Some of the trees are coniferous trees and deciduous. It is all scattered in the southern part of the Canadian Shield. The forests are all mixed with birch trees, aspen trees, tamarisk trees, black and white spruce trees, willow trees, hemlock trees, pine trees and balsam fir trees. The mixed forests are beautiful in the fall when the leaves of the deciduous trees change color.
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...
Time and time again it has been seen that human interaction with his/her environment and it’s ecosystems has shown to be increasingly arrogant and self-serving. These endless accounts are proven by the amount of important biological diversity that is being lost to the surrounding environment due to these threats of human development and population growth. There are two forms of these losses of diversity by human hand: direct and indirect. Direct losses would be the destruction of an area needed for human requirements be it social or economical. Examples of these losses would be housing, agriculture, and others. Indirect losses would be those caused by the destruction of an area also needed for the same requirements but the area’s commodities which are valued, water, food, land in general, is needed elsewhere. These losses are few in number compared with those of direct losses yet they are of the greatest importance. They are important because they involve the removal of resources of an area in which other inhabitants are dependent upon. A great example of this regrettable indirect expansion is the loss of the rich habitat of the area known as Owens Valley.
Although in a dry belt, the Okanagan's natural vegetation is divided into two general categories. North Okanagan is dominated by a "dry/rainshadow forest" characterized by sage bush, antelope bush (also called greasewood), bunchgrass and scattered ponderosa pines. It is a green and fertile region with a much wetter climate than the rest of the valley.
The tundra artic plains completely covering most of the earth’s lands north of the coniferous forest belt. The tundra’s ecosystem is very sensitive. It doesn’t have a good 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. Even the Antarctic area has a couple of its own arctic regions itself.
The Canadian Shield also known as the Laurentian Plateau is a region of land within Canada that comprises two types of rocks: Igneous and Metamorphic (“Canadian Landforms: Rocks and Minerals” n,d). It is the exposed area of the Earth’s crust. It spans from Newfoundland and Labrador to Alberta with half of it concentrated in Ontario (Figure 1).
are mainly based in plains and lowlands of some kind. The Low Arctic Tundra is
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.
provinces of Canada, bordered on the north by the Bay of Fundy, the province of
The graphs show the results that were expected from the land use questionnaires. In the tables, the trend in the graphs show the total’s and average’s over 147 years.
There are lack of appropriate tree planting spaces due to increased densities and more impervious surfaces. Pest, such as Emerald Ash Borer, and disease can have sudden and devastating effects, especially in areas that lack species diversity (NKUCFC, 2008).
The climate and parent material’s role in soil formation is active, however topography is a passive element which ceases or alters profile development. Moreover, the exposure of slope with respect to rainfall and sunshine interception leads to different pedoclimates and weathering conditions (Verheye, W. & de la Rosa, D., 2005). As Brady, N. (1984) stated, there is a definite interaction among topography; vegetation and soil formation. An area can contain various topographic features such as valleys, plains, hills, dissected plains, and escarpments which have different slope