Prairies Ecozone

Prairies Ecozone By: Hunter Parkinson and Stefano Campagnolo

Resources and Economic Base

Population and Cities

The population density of The Prairies Ecozone is

14.764/km²

The total population of The Prairies is 4,222,569

Demographics and Human Activities

Despite the huge amount of land in the prairies given over to farming,less than 10% of the 4million people, are farmers. 80% of the population lives in urban areas.

The economy in the ecozone is based heavily off of agriculture and mining. Many jobs have been made of the oil sands, petroleum mining, and a lot of tourism. It is rich in freshwater and other natural resources, hence why it is a popular spot.

GDP: $91 billion

Which is only 15% of Canada's total.

National Parks and Environmental Problems

Major cities within the Prairies include Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg

Calgary skyline

Most of the jobs within the Prairies are generated by the massive amounts of Agriculture within the eco zone. Anyone who is not in the Agriculture business is usually working in the mining industry due to the oil and petroleum within the Prairies. Also tourism has an affect in the Prairies as people want to go visit the city of Edmonton and other tourism spots.

Two National parks are: Elk Island National Park,

and Grasslands National Park.

The main environmental problem in the ecozone is that there is a lot of loss of habitat because of farmland and urbanization. This will cause the flora to have less areas to grow properly. This will lead to already endangered species becoming extinct.

Citation

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

http://canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca/english/ecozones/prairies/prairies.htm

http://www.evergreen.ca/en/resources/native-plants-and-invasive-species/canadas-ecozones/

Climate

Climate graph of Calgary, a city in the prairies ecozone.

Landform

The prairies ecozone is continental. The winters are moderately long, and cold (roughly -15°C); The summers are moderately warm (Average 18°C).

Precipitation averages between 250 to 700mm.

The growing season averages between 170 to 190 days.

Areas within the prairies ecozone experience all four seasons.

The landforms in the prairies are mostly small, rolling hills, and low-lying flat land. The land is next to the rocky mountains.

The rocks that are naturally found in this ecozone are sedimentary, left over from the glaciation that took place many years ago. Coals found along the bottom of the rockies, uranium near Lake Athabasca, and potash is found nearly everywhere.

Water

Location

The water in the Prairies drains into the Gulf of Mexico.

The largest body of water in the ecozone is Lake Winnipeg, which by itself has 5 seperate watersheds.

Some rivers in the ecozone are the Red Deer Lake, North Saskatchewan River, South Saskatchewan River, and the Swift Current River. The glaciation years ago made an inland sea named Lake Agassiz. Cedar Lake and lakes Manitoba, Winnipeg, and Winnipegosis are remnants of this inland sea that no longer exists.

The location of the Prairies

Absolute: 55° 10' 0" N

118° 48' 0" W

Relative: The prairies ecozone covers the south of Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan. Edmonton marks this eco zone's northern apex.

The prairies covers about 520 000km² of land in area.

Soils

The soil in the prairies is very rich because of the weather conditions present. The soils are fertile with humus and moist soils. The grassland soils in the prairies were extremely useful in the area becoming a large agricultural spot in Canada.

Farmland takes up 94% of the ecozone.

Animals

Many animals wander around the natural areas within the plains. Examples of these are squirrels, owls, birds and other animals. This ecozone is very biodiverse for what's left in it.

Many species are either endangered or extinct because of urbanization and turning natural space into farmland. Some extinct species includes: Bison, Prairie Wolves, Plains Grizzlies, Elk, Wolverine, Swift Fox, Black-footed Ferrets, and Greater-Prairie Chicken.

Some that are endangered are: Eastern Yellow Bellied Racer, Plains Bison, Pronghorn Antelope, Sage Grouse, Burrowing Owl, Ferrugiaous Hawk, Prairie Rattlesnake, and the Greater Short-Horned Lizard.

Atmosphere

Vegetation

The condition of the atmosphere affects what can grow.

The air provides the animals with oxygen to breathe.

Animals provide CO² for plants to convert into oxygen.

Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and provide oxygen.

The elevation of the land affects wind

patterns.

Me comin to steal yo gurl

Animals fertilize the plants.

Animals eat plants and use them for habitat

Animals

What did the bison

say when his son left him?

Bi Son :'(

Plants

There is very little of the natural vegetation left because so much of the land has been converted to farmland and cities.

What is left is short and long-grasses; and trees.

Other vegetation is grown, such as wheat, and other vegetation.

The vegetation regions it is in include the tallgrass prairie, mixed grass prairie, and fescue prairie.

Winds erode the land and change it.

Gives the plants soil to grow in.

Gives animals land to walk and live on.

Use dead animal parts to make soil more fertile to use.

The plants absorb the nutrients in the ground and keep the dirt together.

Surface