ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
(WWF ID: NA1109) covers the
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 Amer ...
on the northeast coast of
Baffin Island
Baffin Island (formerly Baffin Land), in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is , slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadia ...
and
Bylot Island
Bylot Island lies off the northern end of Baffin Island in Nunavut Territory, Canada. Eclipse Sound to the southeast and Navy Board Inlet to the southwest separate it from Baffin Island. Parry Channel lies to its northwest. At it is ranked 71st ...
, facing
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...
in
Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' ...
, northern
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 ...
. The terrain is extremely rugged, heavily glaciated, with many deep fjords, and very cold. About half of the territory is moss and lichen tundra, the other half bare rock and ice. The region is wetter than the much drier regions to the southwest of the Baffin Islands.
Location and description
The Baffin Islands are the southeastern half of the
Arctic Cordillera
The Arctic Cordillera is a terrestrial ecozone in northern Canada characterized by a vast, deeply dissected chain of mountain ranges extending along the northeastern flank of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from Ellesmere Island to the northeas ...
, a chain of island mountains that run along the northeast of the Canada's
Arctic Archipelago
The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of Denmark).
Situated in the northern extremity of No ...
. They are separated from
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
by
Baffin Bay
Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...
. The Baffin Island section is 900 km long; the Bylot Island mountains to the north of Baffin Island add another 100 km. The ecoregion averages only 100 km wide. The mean elevation is and the maximum is at
Mount Odin
Mount Odin is a mountain in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. It is located in Auyuittuq National Park along the Akshayuk Pass, north of Pangnirtung and south of Mount Asgard. Mount Odin is the highest mountain on Baffin Island.
Mount Odin is the ...
.
Much of the ground bare is bedrock and glaciers; open soil is continuous
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 ...
. Along the seacoast, deep
fjords
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...
reach into the glaciated mountains. The ecoregion to the south along the length is the
High Arctic tundra
The High Arctic tundra ecoregion (WWF ID: NA1110) covers most of Canada's northern Arctic Archipelago - from the Queen Elizabeth Islands nearest to Greenland in the northeast, and down through the center of Baffin Island. Much of the northern ...
, which is much drier (averaging only 100 mm/year of precipitation compared to the 400–600 mm/year in the Davis Highlands).
Climate
The climate of the ecoregion is ''
Ice cap climate
An ice cap climate is a polar climate where no mean monthly temperature exceeds . The climate covers areas in or near the high latitudes (65° latitude) to polar regions (70–90° north and south latitude), such as Antarctica, some of the northe ...
'' (
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
EF), a local climate in which no month has an average temperature above (0 °C (32 °F)). These regions are generally above 65% in latitude (north or south), are characterized by expanses of ice and bare ground, and little animal life. The mean annual temperature is . Mean annual precipitation is 400–600 mm/year.
Flora and fauna
Half of the ecoregion is bare ice or permanent water, and not supportive of life. The other half is sparsely covered with
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
and
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship. A few cold-tolerant vascular plants are found, such as sedge (''
Carex
''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...
'') and cotton grass (''
Eriophorum
''Eriophorum'' (cottongrass, cotton-grass or cottonsedge) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cyperaceae, the sedge family. They are found throughout the arctic, subarctic, and temperate portions of the Northern Hemisphere in acid bo ...
'').
Bird life is an important ecological feature of the ecoregion. One of the world's larges nesting colonies of snow goose (''
chen caerulescens
The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed ...
'') is found on Bylot Island. Large colonies of thick-billed murres (''
Uria lomvia
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (''Uria lomvia'') is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies ''Uria lomvia arra'' i ...
'') and the vulnerable black-legged kittiwakes (''
Rissa tridactyla
The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...
'') inhabit the area. Other bird of the ecoregion include king eider (''
Somateria spectabilis
The king eider (pronounced ) (''Somateria spectabilis'') is a large sea duck that breeds along Northern Hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high la ...
''), rock ptarmigan (''
Lagopus mutus
The rock ptarmigan (''Lagopus muta'') is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse family. It is known simply as the ptarmigan in the UK. It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, where it is known as the ''aqiggiq'' (ᐊᕿ ...
Charadrius
'' Charadrius '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate.
They are found throughout the world.
Many ''Charadrius'' species a ...
and
Pluvialis
'' Pluvialis '' is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere.
In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. The ...
), hoary redpoll (''
Carduelis hornemanni
The Arctic redpoll or hoary redpoll (''Acanthis hornemanni'') is a bird species in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds in tundra birch forest. It has two subspecies, ''A. h. hornemanni'' (Greenland or Hornemann's Arctic redpoll) of Greenla ...
'') and snow bunting (''
Plectrophenax nivalis
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 h ...
'').
Land mammals in the ecoregion include arctic hare (''
Lepus arcticus
The Arctic hare (''Lepus arcticus'') is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up close to 20% of its body, and a ...
''), arctic fox (''
Alopex lagopus
The Arctic fox (''Vulpes lagopus''), also known as the white fox, polar fox, or snow fox, is a small fox native to the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. It is well adapted to living in c ...
Ursus maritimus
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 ...
'').
Protected areas
Over 31% of the ecoregion is officially protected. These protected areas include:
*
Auyuittuq National Park
Auyuittuq National Park ( iu, ᐊᐅᔪᐃᑦᑐᖅ, , "the land that never melts") is a national park located on Baffin Island's Cumberland Peninsula, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, the largest political subdivision of Canada. The park was ...
*
Bylot Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary
The Bylot Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary is a migratory bird sanctuary in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada. Located on Bylot Island, it was federally designated in 1965, and is classified as Category IV by the International Union for Conservation o ...
Qaqulluit National Wildlife Area
Qaqulluit (Inuktitut syllabics: ''ᖃᖁᓪᓗᐃᑦ'' formerly Qaqaluit Island (meaning: "northern fulmar") is one of eastern Baffin Island's small, offshore, uninhabited islands, located in the Arctic Archipelago in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunav ...
*
Sirmilik National Park
Sirmilik National Park (; Inuktitut: "the place of glaciers") is a national park located in Qikiqtaaluk, Nunavut, Canada, established in 1999. Situated within the Arctic Cordillera, the park is composed of three areas: most of Bylot Island with ...
See also
*
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 Nearc ...