Alsike is an unincorporated place in

central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...

Leduc County Leduc County is a municipal district in Alberta, Canada that is immediately south of the City of Edmonton. It spans east to west and north to south, and has a population of 14,416. The municipal district is home to prairie parkland and several ...

, located on Highway 39, Highway 22. It is west of Leduc. The first general store opened in 1938. Alsike is notable for its

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

farms and

dude ranch A guest ranch, also known as a dude ranch, is a type of ranch oriented towards visitors or tourism. It is considered a form of agritourism. History Guest ranches arose in response to the romanticization of the American West that began to occur ...

es. The

Fort Saskatchewan Fort Saskatchewan is a city along the North Saskatchewan River in Alberta, Canada. It is northeast of Edmonton, the provincial capital. It is part of the Edmonton census metropolitan area and one of 24 municipalities that constitute the Edmont ...

Correctional Facility has an affiliated Alsike Camp. The Alsike area has been studied for its

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from th ...

outbreaks, first ''

Ambrosiella ''Ambrosiella'' is a genus of ambrosia fungi within the family Ceratocystidaceae. It was circumscribed by mycologists Josef Adolph von Arx and Grégoire L. Hennebert in 1965 with '' Ambrosiella xylebori'' as the type species. All ''Ambrosiella'' ...

'' and ''

Raffaelea ''Raffaelea'' is a genus of ambrosia fungi in the family Ophiostomataceae. It was circumscribed by mycologists Josef Adolph von Arx and Grégoire L. Hennebert in 1965 with '' Raffaelea ambrosiae'' as the type species. The genus is named in hon ...

'' in certain trees, spread by

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

host beetles. In 1983, the area's

clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...

(which is a major part of horses' diet) was struck by a

epidemic of ''

Olpidium brassicae ''Olpidium brassicae'' is a plant pathogen, it is a fungal obligate parasite. In 1983, the Alsike, Alberta area's clover (which is a major part of horses' diet) was struck by a fungus epidemic of ''Olpidium brassicae'', previously not seen in Ca ...

'' and ''

Ligniera ''Ligniera'' is a protist genus of the family Plasmodiophoraceae. The genus name of ''Ligniera'' is in honour of Élie Antoine Octave Lignier (1855–1916), who was a French botanist, known for his work in the field of paleobotany. References ...

'' species, previously not seen in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.J. P. Tewari and P. Bains, ''Fungi associated with the roots of clover in Alberta. I. Olpidium brassicae and Ligniera sp.'' Canadian Plant Disease Survey 63:2, 1983 35, found a
CPS-SCP of Canada website
Accessed January 11, 2010.

References

External links

Images of Alsike on Flickr
Localities in Leduc County {{CentralAlberta-geo-stub