How many types of vegetation are there in Canada?
Seven Vegetation. Regions in. Canada Tundra Grasslands The soils of this vegetation region contains more humus than the mixed forest region and has less acidity because of the larger amount of deciduous tress. The dark brown topsoil is rich with humus. Summers in southwestern Ontario are long and hot while winters are relatively mild.
What is the northernmost province in Canada?
Northern Canada, colloquially the North, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Where does boreal vegetation occur in Nova Scotia?
A separate area of boreal vegetation also occurs on Cape Breton Island, along the east coast of Nova Scotia and around the Bay of Fundy . This vegetation region is dominated by plants that are capable of surviving cool, short summers and long, cold winters. Variations in vegetation occur within this large biome.
What is the vegetation like in the Canadian Cordillera?
It ranges from alpine tundra to coastal rainforest to grasslands and savannah forests. In fact, five of the eight major Canadian forest zones are found in the cordillera. Mountain systems typically have complex vegetation due to climatic effects of elevation and mountains as barriers to air flow. The Canadian cordillera is no exception.
What is the most northerly vegetation region of Canada?
The boreal zone is the wide area that lies between the treeless tundra of the arctic zone in northern Canada and the temperate zone in southern Canada. The boreal forest is the forested area within the larger boreal zone.
What are the vegetation regions of Canada?
Canada's vegetation is very diverse – ranging from warm temperate grasslands and forests, to cool boreal and mountain forests, to cold treeless arctic and alpine tundra, to freshwater and marine aquatic vegetation.
Which type of vegetation is found in northern part of Canada?
Cotton grass, sedge, dwarf heath, shrubs, mosses and lichens are the most common vegetation in the Canadian Arctic. However, going towards the south, the vegetation changes to birch-lichen woodland to needle-leaf forest.
How many vegetation regions are in Canada?
seven vegetation regionsCanada has seven vegetation regions. From Figure 1, Parkland (orange) and Grassland (red) are one region. Tundra The tundra is the second-largest vegetation region in the country.
What are the 7 vegetation regions?
There are five major vegetation regions: forest, grassland, tundra, desert, and ice sheet. altitude, soil, and precipitation region in which a plant best survives.
What are the different vegetation regions?
There are five vegetation regions in the world: forest, grassland, tundra, desert, and ice sheet.
What kind of vegetation is in Arctic?
ARCTIC PLANTS. Approximately 1,700 species of plants live on the Arctic tundra, including flowering plants, dwarf shrubs, herbs, grasses, mosses, and lichens. The tundra is characterized by permafrost, a layer of soil and partially decomposed organic matter that is frozen year-round.
What is the main vegetation in Canada?
Canada's Vegetation includes comprehensive sections on tundra, forest-tundra, boreal forest and mixed forest transition, prairie (steppe), Cordilleran environments in western North America, temperate deciduous forests, and wetlands.
What vegetation is found in the Arctic region?
Only mosses, lichens and veiy small shrubs are found here. They grow during the very short summer. This is called Tundra type of vegetation.
What is Canada's smallest vegetation region?
The Mixed Wood Plains of Southern Ontario and Quebec is one of Canada's smallest recognized ecozones. It is bordered by the boreal forests to the north and the Atlantic Maritimes ecozone to the east.
What is the easternmost Canadian vegetation region?
The Canadian boreal region spans the landscape from the most easterly part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador to the border between the far northern Yukon and Alaska. The area is dominated by coniferous forests, particularly spruce, interspersed with vast wetlands, mostly bogs and fens.
What are the 5 types of vegetation?
Vegetation TypesSavanna.Woodland.Ecosystems.Wetlands.Biodiversity.Habitats.Grasslands.Shrub.
What are the vegetation and climate regions of Canada?
It ranges from alpine tundra to coastal rainforest to grasslands and savannah forests. In fact, five of the eight major Canadian forest zones are found in the cordillera. Mountain systems typically have complex vegetation due to climatic effects of elevation and mountains as barriers to air flow.
What are the 7 climate regions in Canada?
There are eight main geographic climatic regions in Canada: the Lowlands, the Maritimes, the West Coast, the Cordillera, the prairies of Southern Canada, the Taiga, the Boreal forests, and the Arctic regions.
What type of vegetation covers most of Canada?
Forest regions. Canada has several large and distinct forest zones, which blend into a number of transitional zones. The northern coniferous, or boreal, forest (taiga) is the world's second largest area of uninterrupted forest; only Russia has a greater expanse of boreal forest.
What are the 7 regions of Canada and what defines them?
Canada has seven physiographic regions. These regions are the Canadian Shield, the Western Cordillera, the Canadian Arctic, the Appalachian Region, the Interior Plains, the Hudson Bay Lowlands and the St. Lawrence Lowlands.
What is the vegetation of the Canadian Cordillera?
Vegetation of the Canadian cordillera is very diverse. It ranges from alpine tundra to coastal rainforest to grasslands and savannah forests. In fact, five of the eight major Canadian forest zones are found in the cordillera.
Where is boreal vegetation found?
A separate area of boreal vegetation also occurs on Cape Breton Island, along the east coast of Nova Scotia and around the Bay of Fundy . This vegetation region is dominated by plants that are capable of surviving cool, short summers and long, cold winters. Variations in vegetation occur within this large biome.
Why is the Arctic tundra treeless?
The Arctic tundra is the second-largest vegetation region in the country. The Arctic is treeless because of its low summer temperatures (a mean of less than 11°C in the warmest month) and short growing season (1.5–3.5 months). The transition from boreal forest to tundra, termed forest tundra, consists of ribbons or islands of stunted black and white spruce trees in a sea of tundra vegetation. Only a few birch and trembling aspen reach this far north.
Where is the boreal forest located?
The boreal forest or taiga encircles the Northern Hemisphere between the treeless Arctic tundra and the more southerly, mid-latitude broad-leaved forest zones. In North America, the taiga extends from the interior of Alaska and the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to Newfoundland and Labrador, making it the largest vegetation region in Canada. A separate area of boreal vegetation also occurs on Cape Breton Island, along the east coast of Nova Scotia and around the Bay of Fundy .
What is the alpine tundra?
The alpine region contains only the alpine tundra zone. This is a region of tundra-like communities found at elevations above the treeline in mountain regions. It is a widespread zone in the Canadian cordillera ranging through the Yukon, District of Mackenzie in the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and Alberta. The growing season is brief and frost can occur any time of year. Vegetation consists of mainly grasses, sedges, dwarf willows, mosses, lichens and other low woody and herbaceous plants. Lush herbaceous meadows can be found on moist areas at low elevations.
What is the vegetation of the outer coast of the island archipelagos?
Vegetation of the outer coasts of island archipelagos and the exposed coasts of the mainland is predominantly coniferous forest consisting of Douglas fir, western hemlock, yellow cypress, Sitka spruce, shore pine, western red cedar and occasionally western yew.
What is the ground cover of pines?
In contrast, dry sites with open-growing (less than 30 per cent cover) pines have a ground cover dominated by bearberry, blueberry and lichens. The climate and vegetation promote the development of luvisolic soils on fine- to medium-textured sites; podzols and brunisols are on coarsely-textured ones.
What causes vegetation to differ greatly?
Temperatures are warmer in valleys and precipitation is moderately heavy on the west side of a mountain. This causes vegetation to differ greatly. Where the temperature is warmer grasses and cacti grow. The soil is also similar to the prairie grasslands here. Where there is a greater amount of precipitation forests grow. top of Cordilleran mountain ranges are similar to the tundra: only meadows of flowers and shrubs above the treeline. On the highest points of the slope no vegetation can survive resulting in snow, bare rock, and ice.
Is the mixed forest in Canada healthy?
This forest is a transition between the deciduous and the boreal forest. There is regular and abundant precipitation in this region which is very healthy for both types of trees. When the leaves from the wide range of trees falls to the ground it creates humus. The humus hold water and less soluble minerals are taken away from the grey brown colored top soil. Because of this, the mixed forest region in Canada is very suitable for farming.
Is summer in Ontario hot?
Summers in southwestern Ontario are long and hot while winters are relatively mild. This region receives much precipitation which is ideal for most of the trees that grow in this region. Sadly on some of this forest remains because most of it has been cleared for agricultural development and urban development.
Overview
Subdivisions
As a social rather than political region, the Canadian North is often subdivided into two distinct regions based on climate, the near north and the far north. The different climates of these two regions result in vastly different vegetation, and therefore very different economies, settlement patterns, and histories.
The "near north" or sub-Arctic is mostly synonymous with the Canadian boreal f…
Territoriality
Since 1925, Canada has claimed the portion of the Arctic between 60°W and 141°W longitude, extending all the way north to the North Pole: all islands in the Arctic Archipelago and Herschel, off the Yukon coast, form part of the region, are Canadian territory and the territorial waters claimed by Canada surround these islands. Views of territorial claims in this region are complicated by disagreements on legal principles. Canada and the Soviet Union/Russia have long claimed that t…
Topography (geography)
While the largest part of the Arctic is composed of permanent ice and the Canadian Arctic tundra north of the tree line, it encompasses geological regions of varying types: the Innuitian Mountains, associated with the Arctic Cordillera mountain system, are geologically distinct from the Arctic Region (which consists largely of lowlands). The Arctic and Hudson Bay Lowlands comprise a s…
Climate
Under the Köppen climate classification, much of mainland Northern Canada has a subarctic climate, with a tundra climate in most of the Arctic Archipelago and on the northern coasts, and an Ice cap climate in some parts of the Arctic Cordillera. For more than half of the year, much of Northern Canada is snow and ice-covered, with some limited moderation by the relatively warmer waters in coastal areas with temperatures generally remaining below the freezing mark from Oct…
Demographics
Using the political definition of the three northern territories, the north, with an area of 3,921,739 km (1,514,192 sq mi), makes up 39.3% of Canada.
Although vast, the entire region is very sparsely populated. As of 2021, only about 118,160 people lived there compared to 36,991,981 in the rest of Canada.
The population density for Northern Canada is 0.03/km (0.078/sq mi) (0.08/km …
Recent
Although it has not been on the same scale, some towns and cities have experienced population increases not seen for several decades before. Yellowknife has become the centre of diamond production for Canada (which has become one of the top three countries for diamonds).
In the 2006 Canadian Census, the three territories posted a combined population of over 100,000 people for the first time in Canadian history.
See also
• Arctic policy of Canada
• Geography of Canada
• Northern Alberta
• Northern Manitoba
• Northern Ontario