Bras D'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve
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Bras d'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve (established 2011) is a
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...
located at
Bras d'Or Lake Bras d'Or Lake (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: Pitupaq) is an irregular estuary in the centre of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. It also has inflows of fresh water from rivers, ma ...
,
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
, Canada. It consists of a salt-water
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...
watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...
inland sea An inland sea (also known as an epeiric sea or an epicontinental sea) is a continental body of water which is very large in area and is either completely surrounded by dry land (landlocked), or connected to an ocean by a river, strait or " arm of ...
with three passages to the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
. The Holocene transgression flooded a complex river-lake system of diverse geology, creating the small, deep inland sea with 12 significant watersheds draining both highlands and lowlands. The terrestrial, marine and coastal habitats provide a home for human populations, as well as other organisms. The original settlers colonized the region following the retreat of glaciers, and today their descendants make up the five
Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
populations that account for a significant proportion of the population occupying large areas of the watershed.


Area

The reserve's surface area (terrestrial and marine) is . The core area is , surrounded by buffer zone(s) of and transition area(s) of .


Ecological characteristics

The Bras d'Or Lake is an
estuarine An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
system located in the middle of
Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
. Cape Breton is a rugged and irregularly shaped island covering about . It lies northeast of mainland Nova Scotia, and is joined to the mainland by a causeway constructed in 1955. Differential erosion has resulted in steep hills around the lake and peninsulas within it, which divide the estuarine ecosystem into five long, deep channels in the north half of the lake and a number of bays in the south. Along the west side of the watershed, steep hills rise abruptly to highland plateaus (the
Cape Breton Highlands The Cape Breton Highlands (, ), commonly called the Highlands, refer to a highland or mountainous plateau across the northern part of Cape Breton Island in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Considered a subrange of the Appalachian mountai ...
) at elevations of . Extensive
wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
and
bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...
deposits occur in the upper reaches of the watershed, specifically in the Cape Breton Highlands, the Boisdale Hills and the East Bay Hills. Large wetlands in the highland portions of the Middle River and Baddeck River serve to store and release water slowly to these major sub-watersheds within the Bras d'Or Lake. The most common fish of the boreal group found in the area are
cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...
(''Gadus morhua''),
white hake The white hake or mud hake (''Urophycis tenuis'') is a phycid hake. It is found in the deeper waters in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Description The species can grow to be up to 30 cm by the end of the first year, and 400 mm if ma ...
(''Urophycis tenuis'') and winter skate (''Raja ocellatus''). Representatives of the Arctic-boreal group include
alligatorfish The alligatorfish (''Aspidophoroides monopterygius''), also known commonly as the Aleutian alligatorfish and the Atlantic alligatorfish, is a fish in the family Agonidae.
(''Aspidophoroides monopterygius'') and daubed shanny (''Lumpenus maculatus'').


Socio-economic characteristics

Indigenous
First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...
populations living within the biosphere reserve form part of
Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...
communities, with the majority living in four (of the six) official reserves: We'koqmaq (Whycocomagh), Wagmatcook,
Eskasoni The Eskasoni Mi'kmaw Nation () is a band government of the Mi'kmaq First Nations, located in Unama'ki (Cape Breton), Nova Scotia, Canada. As of 2021, Eskasoni has a membership of 4,675. Of this population, 3,973 live on-Reserve, and 667 live of ...
and
Potlotek Potlotek First Nation, also known as Chapel Island, is a Mi'kmaq community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the thre ...
. The fifth reserve, Malagawatch (occupied seasonally), is also situated within the biosphere reserve area. A sixth reserve, Membertou, is located near
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, just outside the biosphere reserve area, but is closely associated with indigenous communities within the biosphere reserve. The majority of employment in the reserve is linked to the tertiary service industry, although fishing, resource extraction, trading and research related to natural resources also take place.


See also

*
Biosphere Reserves of Canada UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are environment-protected scientific-research institutions of international status that are created with the intent for conservation in a natural state the most typical natural complexes of biosphere, conducting backgrou ...


Sources

{{free-content attribution , author = UNESCO , title = UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory , publisher = UNESCO , documentURL = https://www.unesco.org/en/mab/bras-dor-lake , License statement URL = http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/ecological-sciences/biosphere-reserves/world-network-wnbr/wnbr/ , licence = CC BY-SA IGO 3.0


References

Biosphere reserves of Canada Protected areas of Nova Scotia