Making the
Connections:
Canada’s Ecozones
Canadian Geography 11
Unit 3: Physical Connections
PowerPoint Presentation
Canada is
divided into 15
terrestrial
ecozones, very
extensive
geographical
areas, each
with a distinct
combination
of climate,
landforms and
soils, water
features,
animals,
vegetation,
and people.
• An ecozone is an area of the earth's
surface that represents a large
ecological zone and has characteristic
landforms and climate.
• Canada is divided into 15 broad
terrestrial ecozones. These are very
extensive geographical areas, each with
a distinct combination of climate,
landforms and soils, water features,
animals, vegetation, and people.
• Fifteen ecozones make up terrestrial
Canada and five make up the marine
waters bordering Canada.
Located along the
northeastern edge of
Nunavut and on the
northernmost tip of
Labrador, this ecozone
is Canada’s “Far North.”
The zone’s high
mountains offer
spectacular scenery,
much of it in the three
National Parks of the
area – Quttinirpaaq,
Sirmilik and Auyuittuq.
The icy Northern Arctic ecozone takes in
most of the islands off the northern
shores of Nunavut and the Northwest
Territories, as well as the northern tip of
Ungava Peninsula, in Quebec. The
drifting North Magnetic Pole is located
in this western part of the ecozone. The
only National Park located here is
Aulavik.
A cold climate and
rocks, lakes and rivers
define this ecozone that
stretches along the
northern mainland of
Canada, from the
border with Alaska in
the west to Quebec’s
Ungava Bay in the
east. Hudson Bay
divides the zone into
two unequal parts,
with 80 percent of the
region lying west of the
bay.
Straddling the southern Yukon Territory and
northern British Columbia, the extensively glaciated
Boreal Cordillera ecozone boasts some of Canada’s
highest mountains. Kluane National Park is located
in this ecozone.
The Boreal Plains ecozone extends across four provinces, from
the Peace River area of northeastern British Columbia,
through central Alberta and Saskatchewan, to southeastern
Manitoba (a narrow band extends a short distance into the
Northwest Territories). National Parks here are Elk Island,
Wood Buffalo, Prince Albert and Riding Mountain.
Canada’s largest
ecozone, the heavily
forested Boreal Shield is
almost 4000 kilometers
wide, stretching across
five provinces, from
northern Saskatchewan
in the west to
Newfoundland in the
east. Georgian Bay
Islands, Gros Morne and
Terra Nova National
Parks are located in the
ecozone.
This ecozone, located at the
southern end of Hudson Bay,
also encompasses the western
and southeastern shores of
James Bay; small
portions spill west into
Manitoba and east into
Quebec. In this region of
swamp, bogs and wetlands,
there is only one National Park
in this ecozone – Wapusk.
This ecozone covers
southern Alberta,
Saskatchewan, and
Manitoba, from the
foothills of the Rockies
to near Ontario’s
southwestern border.
The fertile Prairies zone
is Canada’s most
extensive agricultural
region. Grasslands is the
only National Park
located here.
This ecozone offers stunning vistas
of the Atlantic Ocean and the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, covering
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island, and
Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula
and Îles de la Madeleine.
Fundy, Cape Breton
Highlands, Kejimkujik,
and Prince Edward
Island National Parks
are in the ecozone.
A mere two percent of Canada, this ecozone, the country’s most
heavily populated and ecologically disturbed, follows the St. Lawrence
River’s course, taking in three of the five Great Lakes. Quebec City sits
at its eastern end, Windsor at its western. National Parks here include
Bruce Peninsula, St. Lawrence Islands, Point Pelee, and Fathom Five.
This ecozone contains the famous Rocky Mountains,
taking up most of southern British Columbia and a
narrow band of southwestern Alberta. The region is
very popular with outdoor adventurers; National
Parks in the ecozone include Banff and Jasper.
This is Canada’s west coast, from the northern Yukon/Alaska
border to British Columbia’s southern boundary with the U.S.A,
as well as Canada’s Pacific Islands. Mountains and ocean define
the region, which contains the Gulf Islands National Park
Reserves and Pacific Rim National Park
A region largely
undisturbed by
glaciers, the wild and
beautiful Taiga
Cordillera ecozone
covers the northern
Yukon and the
southwest corner of
the Northwest
Territories. Ivvavik,
Nahanni (a UNESCO
World Heritage site)
and Vuntut National
Parks are located
here.
The Taiga Plains are located mainly in the western part of the
Northwest Territories. Bordered by the Mackenzie Mountains on the
west, they are distinguished, in the east, by the presence of two very
large lakes: Great Bear and Great Slave. A very small portion of
Wood Buffalo National Park is located in this ecozone.
A subarctic ecozone, Taiga
Shield is characterized by
forest and wetlands. It flanks
Hudson Bay, its western part
extending to the Northwest
Territories, but also
in small areas of northern
Alberta, Saskatchewan,
and Manitoba. East of
Hudson Bay, it crosses central
Quebec and southern
Labrador. It contains no
National Parks.
• The waters of the Pacific Coast are best
known to Canadians today for their
popular tourism destinations and the
prominent, though troubled, fishing
industry.
• The Pacific coast of British Columbia is
also home to ancient indigenous cultures.
On his famous third voyage around the
world in 1778, Captain James Cook
became the first known European to
reach the Pacific coast of present-day B.
C.
• The heavily forested and mountainous
terrain led to the emergence of a seadependent culture and the people of the
Pacific coast acquired sea-faring and
fishing skills superior to those of the first
European explorers.
Pacific
Marine
Ecozone
Arctic Archipelago Marine Ecozone
From Greenland in the east to Alaska
in the west, the Arctic Archipelago
Ecozone has lured mariners for centuries.
• The hope that a northerly route could be found to the
Orient attracted many of the earliest explorers to the
Arctic.
• History has recorded the hardships and, indeed, the
tragedies which often happen to these ventures. Local
geographical names like Franklin District, Victoria
Island, Norwegian Bay, and Prince Albert Sound are
tributes to the varied people and nations that have
explored the region.
• This is perhaps one of the most unusual
marine ecozones. Vast and open seascapes are
rare. Instead, the marine area is comprised of
a patchwork of interconnecting bays, fjords,
channels, straits, sounds and gulfs. This area
surrounds hundreds of islands such as the
Queen Elizabeth chain of islands, Baffin Island,
Melville Island, Devon Island and Banks Island.
• The general boundary of the ecozone follows
the northern continental shelf from Mackenzie
Bay in the Beaufort Sea north to the Lincoln
Sea between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
It then curves south through Nares Strait,
taking in all of Baffin Island, save for sections
of the east coast considered part of the
Northwest Atlantic Ecozone. The ecozone
encompasses all waters to the west of Baffin
Island, and then extends south into one of
Canada's most prominent geographic
features, Hudson Bay.
Northwest Atlantic Marine Ecozone
•
The Northwest Atlantic Ecozone begins in
Canada's Far North at the mouth of
Lancaster Sound. It continues south along
the eastern edge of Baffin Bay, touching
Baffin Island at Cape Dyer.
• It takes in the remaining coast of Baffin
Island, rounds Resolution Island and heads
west to Hudson Strait. Arcing east, the
ecozone encompasses Ungava Bay and all
of the Labrador Coast, the west and
northeast coasts of Newfoundland, and
the entire Quebec, New Brunswick, P.E.I.
and Nova Scotia coasts of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
• Offshore, it follows the outer edge of the
underwater continental shelf, descending
south from the permanent ice sheet near
Davis Strait to come ashore at
Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula.
Atlantic Marine Ecozone
• With the exception of the Grand Banks
and the Scotian Shelf, the Atlantic Marine
Ecozone is defined by deep water.
• Its offshore boundary wanders along the
edge of the eastern continental shelf and
about half of the ecozone is located well
out to sea.
• It begins in the Davis Strait, follows the
Labrador Shelf south around the Flemish
Cap seamount, takes in the Grand Banks,
and comes ashore at the northeastern tip
of Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula.
• The inshore boundary encompasses
all of Newfoundland's south coast
and Nova Scotia's east coast, and
extends into the Bay of Fundy and
south to the Gulf of Maine.
• Icebergs can be the size
of small mountains, with 90%
of their mass underwater, are
not uncommon and have been
feared by mariners for centuries.
• The danger of collisions with
icebergs, sailors named the stretch
of ocean from Greenland to the
southern coast of Newfoundland
"Iceberg Alley."
• Most of the traditional
impressions people have
about Canada's Arctic are
defined by the Arctic Basin
Ecozone.
• This is essentially the parts
of the Arctic Ocean that
remain under permanent
ice cover. It extends from
the southern edge of the
permanent ice line in the
Beaufort Sea north and
east over the Canada Basin
of the northern tip of
Greenland.
Arctic Basin
Marine
Ecozone
•The overwhelming ecological
characteristic of this ecozone is the
constant cover of ice sheets and
pack ice.
•More than 90% of the region
consists of a giant permanent ice
cap floating on the ocean. It slowly
rotates in a counter-clockwise
pattern, roughly centered on the
North Pole.
To many Canadians, ecozones
should conjure
up distinct images of the country for example the Prairies, Boreal,
Taiga, Arctic and Cordilleran
ecozones
bring to mind particular features
such as mountains, plains, treed and
treeless regions, distinct from one
another in one or more of their
characteristic features.
Ecozones are useful for general
national reporting and for placing
Canada's ecosystem diversity in a
North American or Global context.