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Baffin Coastal Tundra
The Baffin coastal tundra is a small ecoregion of the far north of North America, on the central north coast of Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. This is permafrost tundra with an average annual temperature below freezing. Setting This ecoregion is a small stretch of coastal plain on the north coast of Baffin Island. The coast is rocky with many fjords carved by glaciers into the Baffin Mountains. The cold Arctic climate consists of a short summers (mean temperature 1°C) and a long, cold winter (mean temperature -22.5°C). Flora The plant cover is sparse in the drier areas while the wetter areas have a fair cover of mosses, sedges, shrubs such as purple saxifrage, Arctic willow, and Arctic poppy and rushes. Fauna This coast is a breeding area for the snow bunting and is home to polar bear, Arctic hare, Arctic fox, lemming, and caribou. Threats and preservation This ecoregion is almost intact although there are no protected areas. See also *List of ecoregion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Ford Fjord
Kangiqtualuk Uqquqti (Inuktitut syllabics: ''ᑲᖏᖅᑐᐊᓗᒃ ᐅᖅᑯᖅᑎ'') formerly Sam Ford Fiord is an isolated, elongated Arctic fjord on Baffin Island's northeastern coast in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. The Inuit settlement of Pond Inlet is to the northwest and Clyde River, Nunavut, Clyde River is to the east. This fjord is reputed for the harsh beauty of its landscapes with rocky cliffs rising steeply from the shore. It is also a popular place with Mountaineering, climbers. History Kangiqtualuk Uqquqti had been one of the traditional hunting areas of the Inuit. It was renamed in memory of Inuk linguist Sam Ford, who died in a helicopter crash but it has since reverted to its original name. Geography Kangiqtualuk Uqquqti stretches roughly from north northeast to south southwest for about . Its mouth, located between the Remote Peninsula and Erik Point, is over wide, the width of the fjord narrowing gradually to an average of about inland. Kangiq ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Permafrost
Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface is underlain by permafrost, with the total area of around 18 million km2. This includes substantial areas of Alaska, Greenland, Canada and Siberia. It can also be located on mountaintops in the Southern Hemisphere and beneath ice-free areas in the Antarctic. Permafrost does not have to be the first layer that is on the ground. It can be from an inch to several miles deep under the Earth's surface. It frequently occurs in ground ice, but it can also be present in non-porous bedrock. Permafrost is formed from ice holding various types of soil, sand, and rock in combination. Permafrost contains large amounts of biomass and decomposed biomass that has been stored as methane and carbon dioxide, making tundra soil a carbon sink. As global war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of Canada
The flora of Canada is quite diverse, due to the wide range of ecoregions and environmental conditions present in Canada. From the warm, temperate broadleaf forests of southern Ontario to the frigid Arctic plains of Northern Canada, from the wet temperate rainforests of the west coast to the arid deserts, badlands and tundra plains, the biodiversity of Canada's plants is extensive. According to environment Canada the nation of Canada hosts approximately 17,000 identified species of trees, flowers, herbs, ferns, mosses and other flora. About 4,100 species of vascular plants are native to Canada, and about 1,200 additional non-native species are recorded as established outside cultivation there. Lists of all plants * List of Canadian plants by family : A , B , C , D , E , F , G , H , I J K , L , M , N , O , P Q , R , S , T , U V W , X Y Z * List of Canadian plants by genus : A , B , C , D , E , F , G , H , I J K , L , M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Ecoregions In Canada (WWF)
The following is a list of ecoregions in Canada as identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Terrestrial ecoregions The terrestrial ecoregions of Canada are all within the Nearctic realm, which includes most of North America. The Nearctic, together with Eurasia's Palearctic realm, constitutes the Holarctic realm of the Northern Hemisphere. British Columbia is the most biodiverse province with 18 ecoregions across 4 biomes. By contrast, Prince Edward Island is the least biodiverse with just one ecoregion - the Gulf of St. Lawrence lowland forests - encompassing the entire province. Marine ecoregions Canada is unique among countries in that it borders three marine realms: the Arctic, Temperate Northern Atlantic, and Temperate Northern Pacific. These realms can be further subdivided into three marine biomes and fifteen marine ecoregions based upon biological distinctiveness. Quebec is the only province that borders both the Arctic and Temperate Northern Atlantic realms ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polar Bear
The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore. A boar (adult male) weighs around , while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snow Bunting
The snow bunting (''Plectrophenax nivalis'') is a passerine bird in the family Calcariidae. It is an Arctic specialist, with a circumpolar Arctic breeding range throughout the northern hemisphere. There are small isolated populations on a few high mountain tops south of the Arctic region, including the Cairngorms in central Scotland and the Saint Elias Mountains on the southern Alaska-Yukon border, as well as the Cape Breton Highlands. The snow bunting is the most northerly recorded passerine in the world. Taxonomy The snow bunting was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it with the buntings in the genus ''Emberiza'' and coined the binomial name ''Emberiza nivalis''. He specified the locality as Lapland. It is now placed in the genus ''Plectrophenax'' that was introduced in 1882 by the Norwegian born zoologist Leonhard Stejneger with the snow bunting as the type species. The genus name ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Papaver Radicatum
''Papaver radicatum'' is a species of poppy known by the common names Arctic poppy, rooted poppy, and yellow poppy. It is a flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. Distribution ''Papaver radicatum'' is circumpolar in distribution and grows in arctic and alpine zones in Europe, North America, and Asia. ''Papaver radicatum'' grows at a latitude of 83°40'N on Kaffeklubben Island, making it one of the northernmost plants in the world. It appears on the Coat of arms of Nunavut. The plant is known for appearing in white and yellow colorations. The yellow variant is much more widely distributed, occurring out in the open, compared to the white flowers typically only found in more remote locations. Characteristics ''Papaver radicatum'' has hair like structures covering the stem and sepals that are used to retain heat to act as insulation. The plant also shows heliotropism where the flower grows to face the sunlight, and the petals reflect light towards the pistil. The petals g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arctic Willow
''Salix arctica'', the Arctic willow, is a tiny creeping willow (family Salicaceae). It is adapted to survive in Arctic conditions, specifically tundras. Description ''S. arctica'' is typically a low shrub growing to only in height, rarely to , although it may reach in height in the Pacific Northwest. It has round, shiny green leaves long and broad; they are pubescent, with long, silky, silvery hairs. Like the rest of the willows, Arctic willow is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate plants. As a result, the plant's appearance varies; the female catkins are red-coloured, while the male catkins are yellow-coloured.Jepson Flora''Salix arctica''/ref> Despite its small size, it is a long-lived plant, growing extremely slowly in the severe arctic climate; one in eastern Greenland was found to be 236 years old. Hybrids with '' Salix arcticola'' and ''Salix glauca'' are known. Distribution and habitat The Arctic willow grows in tundra and rocky moorland, and is th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Purple Saxifrage
''Saxifraga oppositifolia'', the purple saxifrage or purple mountain saxifrage, is a species of plant that is very common in the high Arctic and also some high mountainous areas further south, including northern Britain, the Alps and the Rocky Mountains. ''Saxifraga oppositifolia'' grows at a latitude of 83°40'N on Kaffeklubben Island, making it one of the northernmost plants in the world. Description ''Saxifraga oppositifolia'' is a low-growing, densely or loosely matted plant growing up to high, with somewhat woody branches of creeping or trailing habit close to the surface. The leaves are small, rounded, scale-like, opposite in four rows with ciliated margins. The flowers are solitary on short stalks, petals purple or lilac, much longer than the calyx lobes. It is one of the first spring flowers, continuing to flower during the whole summer in localities where the snow melts later. The flowers grow to about in diameter. Ecology Habitat ''Saxifraga oppositifolia'' grows ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sedge
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' with over 2,000 species. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group occurring in tropical Asia and tropical South America. While sedges may be found growing in almost all environments, many are associated with wetlands, or with poor soils. Ecological communities dominated by sedges are known as sedgelands or sedge meadows. Some species superficially resemble the closely related rushes and the more distantly related grasses. Features distinguishing members of the sedge family from grasses or rushes are stems with triangular cross-sections (with occasional exceptions, a notable example being the tule which has a round cross-section) and leaves that are spirally arranged in three ranks. In comparison, g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baffin Mountains
The Baffin Mountains are a mountain range running along the northeastern coast of Baffin Island and Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada. The ice-capped mountains are part of the Arctic Cordillera and have some of the highest peaks of eastern North America, reaching a height of above sea level. While they are separated by bodies of water to make Baffin Island, they are closely related to the other mountain ranges that make the much larger Arctic Cordillera mountain range. Terrain The highest point is Mount Odin at while Mount Asgard (''Sivanitirutinguak'') at is perhaps the best known. The highest point in the northern Baffin Mountains is Qiajivik Mountain at . There are no trees in the Baffin Mountains because they are north of the Arctic tree line. Rocks that compose the Baffin Mountains are primarily deeply dissected granitic rocks. They were covered with ice until about 1500 years ago, and vast parts of them are still ice-covered. Geologically, the Baffin Mountains form the easte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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