| Eastern Canadian Boreal Forests | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Ecology | |
| Realm | Nearctic |
| Biome | Boreal forests/taiga |
| Borders | |
| Bird species | 159 [1] |
| Mammal species | 47 [1] |
| Geography | |
| Area | 486,918 km2 (188,000 sq mi) |
| Country | Canada |
| Provinces | |
| Conservation | |
| Conservation status | Critical/Endangered [2] |
| Habitat loss | 0.2% [1] |
| Protected | 5.52% [1] |
The Eastern Canadian Boreal Forests is a boreal ecoregion in Eastern Canada, defined by the One Earth ecoregion categorization system. [3]
This ecoregion contains a number of mountainous areas on the east coast of Canada and along the Saint Lawrence River in eastern Quebec (including Anticosti Island in the Saint Lawrence) and the coast up to near Labrador, on the island of Newfoundland, in the highlands of New Brunswick, and the Cape Breton Highlands on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The mountains included are the Laurentian Mountains, to the north of the ecoregion, and the northernmost ranges of the Appalachian Mountains chain to the south, with peaks over 1000m, including the rugged Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. The climate is cool and wet and the coast is subject to heavy fog, especially on the Strait of Belle Isle between Labrador and Newfoundland for example. The Central Canadian Shield forests ecoregion lies inland to the west and has more black spruce than the balsam fir that are the dominant tree in this ecoregion. [2]
The dominant trees of these coastal forests are balsam fir Abies balsamea along with black spruce Picea mariana , white spruce Picea glauca on the shoreline, and paper birch Betula papyrifera and aspen Populus tremuloides where the forest is regrown following logging or other disturbance. Other plants include mosses and coastal heath shrubs. Sheltered areas within the mountains, such as the valley around Lac St. Jean have a different woodland pattern.
This coast is a breeding ground for large colonies of eiders and other seabirds. Mammals include moose (Alces alces), American black bear (Ursus americanus), Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), snowshoe hare and grey wolf.
This coast has long been inhabited and the forest much altered especially by logging. However up to 40% remains intact, especially in the north of the region in Quebec, while the Gaspé Peninsula, northern New Brunswick and Newfoundland are more heavily populated and the environment therefore much changed and fragmented. Mining has also damaged habitats in certain areas such as Matamec. Protected areas include Bay du Nord Wilderness Reserve, Avalon Wilderness Reserve, Middle Ridge Wildlife Reserve and Terra Nova National Park in Newfoundland; Monts-Valin National Park north of the Saguenay River, Gaspésie National Park, Saguenay National Park and Forillon National Park in Quebec; and Cape Breton Highlands National Park and Pollett's Cove in Nova Scotia.
La Mauricie National Park is a national park located near Shawinigan in the Laurentian mountains, in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. It covers 536 km2 (207 sq mi) in the southern Canadian Shield region bordering the Saint Lawrence lowlands. The park contains 150 lakes and many ponds.
The Boreal Shield Ecozone, as defined by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), is the largest ecozone in Canada. Covering 1.8 million square kilometres it covers almost 20% of Canada's landmass, stretching from northern Saskatchewan to Newfoundland.
The New England-Acadian forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion in North America that includes a variety of habitats on the hills, mountains and plateaus of New England and New York State in the Northeastern United States, and Quebec and the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada.
Krummholz — also called knieholz — is a type of stunted, deformed vegetation encountered in the subarctic and subalpine tree line landscapes, shaped by continual exposure to fierce, freezing winds. Under these conditions, trees can only survive where they are sheltered by rock formations or snow cover. As the lower portion of these trees continues to grow, the coverage becomes extremely dense near the ground. In Newfoundland and Labrador, the formation is known as tuckamore. Krummholz trees are also found on beaches such as the Oregon coast, where trees can become much taller than their subalpine cousins.
The eastern forest–boreal transition is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of North America, mostly in eastern Canada. It is a transitional zone or region between the predominantly coniferous Boreal Forest and the mostly deciduous broadleaf forest region further south.
The Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion of Eastern Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The Alberta Mountain forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of Western Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The Alberta–British Columbia foothills forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of Western Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system. This ecoregion borders Canada's taiga and contains a mix of subarctic forest and temperate forest species as a result. This makes the region an ecotone region, or a region that acts as a buffer between two other biomes.
The Eastern Canadian Shield taiga is an ecoregion of Canada as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The Muskwa-Slave Lake Taiga ecoregion covers Canadian taiga in northwestern Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and a large portion of the southwestern Northwest Territories around the Mackenzie River valley and the Great Slave Lake.
The South Central Rockies forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the United States located mainly in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana. It has a considerably drier climate than the North Central Rockies forest.
The North Central Rockies forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of Canada and the United States. This region overlaps in large part with the North American inland temperate rainforest and gets more rain on average than the South Central Rockies forests and is notable for containing the only inland populations of many species from the Pacific coast.
The Mid-Canada Boreal Plains Forests is a taiga ecoregion of Western Canada, designated by One Earth. It was previously defined as the Mid-Continental Canadian Forests by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system, before it was modified by One Earth, the successor to WWF.
The Midwest Canadian Shield Forests is an ecoregion in Canada, classified as a Taiga and Boreal Forests Biome.
The Central Canadian Shield forests are a taiga ecoregion of Eastern Canada, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The Newfoundland Highland forests are a taiga ecoregion located on the island of Newfoundland in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It has a total area of 4,031,999 acres.
The eastern moose is a subspecies of moose that currently ranges throughout Eastern Canada, New England and northern New York State. It inhabits boreal forests and mixed deciduous forests. It is the third largest North American subspecies, after the western moose and the Alaskan moose. Males are aggressive during mating season and will attack anything that provokes them.
The Western Great Lakes forests is a terrestrial ecoregion as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It is within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome of North America. It is found in northern areas of the United States' states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in southern areas of the Canadian province of Manitoba and northwestern areas of the province of Ontario.
The Northwest Territories taiga ecoregion (WWF:NA0614) is located in the Northwest Territories and Yukon provinces of Canada. It covers forest and tundra along the Mackenzie River Valley and the surrounding highlands in the southern portion of the valley.
The Ogilvie–MacKenzie alpine tundra ecoregion covers the mountainous middle of the Yukon Territory in Canada, with extensions into the Northwest Territories. The vegetation is alpine and subalpine open forest of stunted spruce, fir and pine. The area is rugged but sections appear to have been unglaciated in the late Pleistocene and there are therefore relic species in the region. The area is remote and supports large, sustainable predator-prey systems.
