Wikibooks: Canadian History/The Wildlife of the Lands

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Northwest Territories; Canada; British Columbia; Common Eider; Tundra
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Canadian_History/The_Wildlife_of_the_Lands

The geography of Canada is an diverse as the cultures that now exist in it. From the rainforests in British Columbia to the tundra in the Northwest Territories to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. = Appalachian Region = Today some of the best and most extensive broad leaved deciduous forests in the world still flourish in the Appalachians. To the north are the conifers (red spruce and balsam fir which grow at the highest elevations) and the northern hardwoods sugar maple buckeye beech ash birch and red and white oak. The western slopes of the Great Smokies with their abundant rainfall produce trees that have reached record maximum height and diameter. Among these are the yellow poplar buckeye eastern Canadian hemlock and chestnut oak. The Appalachian forest is a highly complex interdependent system. It forms one of the great floral provinces of the Earth. There are the trees that bear luxuriant bloom such as serviceberry redbud hawthorn yellow poplar dogwood locust sourwood and many others. Among the numerous shrubs with particularly showy flowers are the rhododendron azalea and mountain laurel. Certain summits of the southern Appalachians are called heath balds—open meadows or grasslands interspersed with thick growths of heath. Ferns mosses and mushrooms of many species also are part of the complex Appalachian plant life. Bison elk and wolves used to be common in the Appalachian but now they like caribou and moose are mostly found in the northernmost corners of the region. Scattered through other areas are the black bear white tailed deer wild boar fox raccoon beaver and numerous other small animals. = Coastal Plains = The Atlantic coastal plains support a diverse waterfowl community including dabbling diving and sea ducks as well as geese. Key species include black duck blue winged teal and common eider. Millions of seabirds also use this area throughout the year and an estimated 4.8 million shorebirds travel through the Atlantic Provinces every fall. Many plants inhabit the sandy areas. These plants are ...