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American Marten

Climate

How they live:

  • Pairs only as mother and child
  • Males do not like to be around other males

Threats:

  • The natural enemies except for bobcats, lynx, and in some cases coyotes some other enemies

Food:

  • Voles, mice, birds, flying squirrels, reptiles, and rabbits
  • honey, insects, conifer seeds, worms, eggs, and even berries.
  • Short cool summers and very cold winters and permafrost happens sporadically.
  • Athabasca Plains annual temperature is approximately -3.5°C. The mean summer temperature is 12°C and the mean winter temperature is -20.5°C.
  • Churchill River plains annual temperature is approximately -2.5°C. The summer temperature is about 12.5°C and about -18.5°C in winter.

Soils and Vegetation

They are not Endangered in Canada but they are in USA (Wisconsin).

Human Impact on the Boreal Shield

Churchill River Upland plain landscape: rugged and rocky

Athabasca Plain: flat-lying sandstone bedrock and sandy glacial deposits with endless forest.

Consists mostly of coniferous trees:

  • maple paper birch, white spruce, black spruce, balsam fir
  • broadleaf trees do appear closer to south border of the boreal shield, such as the yellow birch and sugar maple.
  • ericaceous shrubs, mosses and lichens.

- The three primary uses of the Boreal Shield by humans are mining, logging, and generation of hydroelectric power

- These practices have caused:

  • Flow alteration, disruption, and sedimentation of rivers from dams and logging
  • Acidification of pH sensitive soil and water from smelting and general pollution
  • Mercury contamination of water from Dams

- Long term effects include:

  • Decreased growth rate and vigor of trees from rising pH levels
  • Reduction of forest's ability to fight disease

- The good news is that the majority of the eco zone is untouched by human development.

Wildlife

Wood Frogs

Fun Fact

Saskatchewan is the largest Uranium producer in the world accounting for 34% of the world's uranium. In total, mining accounted for 2.4 billion dollars of revenue for saskatchewan in 2002 which was roughly 11% of our gross domestic product.

BOREAL SHIELD

The diverse wildlife in the Boreal Shield Ecozone can range from ducks to frogs, wolves, moose, birds, and small insects.

Unique animals:

  • American Marten
  • Mink
  • Snowshoe Hare
  • Black Bears
  • Masked Shrew
  • Voles
  • Grosbeaks
  • Redpolls

Common animals that cross over from the Boreal Shield from above in the Taiga Shield are Muskrat, Wood Frog, Common Redpoll, Snowshoe hare, wolf, black bears.

Human Population

How they live:

  • During the winter 65% of the water in their body freeze and go into deep hibernation.

Food:

  • Insects
  • Arachnids
  • Slugs
  • Worms
  • Snails

Threats:

  • Turtles
  • Raccoons
  • Coyotes
  • Foxes
  • Salamanders
  • Wood frogs

Fun Fact

The original inhabitants of the Boreal Shield are the Beothuk, Algonquians, Iroquois.

Size of the Ecozone

Reasons for being Threatened:

Woodland Caribou

- The Boreal Shield is mostly unpopulated in Saskatchewan.

The Boreal Shield eco region is located in Northern Saskatchewan and Stretches about 3,800 kilometers from Newfoundland to Alberta, making it the the largest terrestrial ecozone covering 1.8 million square kilometers.

Side Note: Long Legged animals have trouble walking in deep snow

Migrating Area

Habitat:

  • 1440 kilometers from the forested wintering grounds to the summer ranges on the tundra, while woodland caribou are less mobile

Food:

  • Lichens (favorite)
  • Horsetails (plant sort of like bamboo)
  • Sedges
  • Twigs
  • Forbs

Threatened:

  • Over hunting
  • Natural causes

Major Saskatchewan communities within the Boreal Shield include La Ronge, Prince Albert, Fond-du-lac, Stoney Creek, and Black Lake.

Major water bodies within the region are Lake Athabasca, Cree Lake, Slave River along with many other lakes and rivers.

A few sounds that the Caribou make.

Contributing animals to the ecozone are:

  • Lynx
  • Elk
  • Small Mammals

Many of which are either prey for other animals or live off the vegetation that are around them while migrating.

Endangered animals:

  • Piping Plover

Threatened Animals:

  • Woodland Caribou

Endangered and Threatened Species

Fun Fact

The rivers of the Boreal Shield were used as the primary mode of transport for the fur trade. The Churchill river, the largest river to run through the boreal shield, was like the highway. It was so important, the Hudson's bay company built Fort Prince of Whales as well as numerous other forts to defend it.

Conclusion

Cannon overlooking the mouth of the Churchill river into the Hudson's Bay. A sister fort lies on the other side of the river.

The Boreal Shield is the largest ecozone in Canada. Its vast forests, lakes, and rivers are home to a wide array of thriving and endangered wildlife. And although it is being, and has been used over the decades, it remains largely untouched by human development.

Bibliography

http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/nature/eep-sar/itm3/eep-sar3caribou.aspx

http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/endangeredresources/animals.asp?mode=detail&speccode=amajf01040

http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/ecozones/borealshield/borealshield.htm#hum

http://ecozones.ca/english/zone/BorealShield/human.html

http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/ecozones_and_ecoregions.html

http://ecozones.ca/english/zone/BorealShield/human.html

http://borealshieldandplains.weebly.com/index.html

http://www.usask.ca/biology/rareplants_sk/root/htm/en/researcher/4_ecoreg.php

http://ecozones.ca/english/zone/Prairies/wildlife.html

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/mink/

https://books.google.ca/books?id=GjK93IUdAX4C&pg=PA75&lpg=PA75&dq=saskatchewan+muskrats&source=bl&ots=BdVJtAzcUe&sig=eVAjTx8O1UQFAFAn-zOxWIej65Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3sNmxxLjQAhUP24MKHWECB8kQ6AEITTAJ#v=onepage&q=saskatchewan%20muskrats&f=false

http://www.birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/common_redpoll

http://www.hww.ca/en/wildlife/mammals/north-american-elk.html#sid2

https://sites.google.com/site/natashasborealshield/animals/endangered-species

http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/species/mammals/mammalpages/ran_tar.htm

http://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/species/speciesDetails_e.cfm?sid=686

Fun Fact

Reasons for Endangerment: Piping Plover

Elk have upper canine, or "eye," teeth. These teeth are earlier evolutionary stages and now are vestigial structure.

Habitat:

  • Exposed sandy or gravelly beaches.
  • Prairies; gravel shores of shallow, saline lakes and sandy shores

Food:

  • Insect
  • Marine Worms
  • Crustaceans

Endangered:

  • Cattle and horses are known to trample nests and chicks
  • Even changes in water levels due to recreational or building
  • Only lay up to four eggs at a time this makes it hard to reproduce faster.
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