Biological Diversity Of Saskatchewan Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Biological Diversity Of Saskatchewan. Answer: Introduction Geography of Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a province in Canada that forms the border the southern parts of the United States. The southern plains of the Saskatchewan are covered in grasslands and the northern part of the region is covered by the Canadian Shield plateau(Benders 2010). The provincial capital of the Saskatchewan region is Regina (Benders 2010). Saskatchewan is the sixth most populous province of Canada consisting of about 1.13 million populations. Saskatchewan is has a boundary of Alberta in the west, northwestern territories in the north, Manitoba on the east, Nunavut to the north east, U.S on the south by the states of Montana and north Dakota. Relief of the Saskatchewan region Saskatchewan consists of two most natural regions, the interior plains in the north and the Canadian Shield in the south. There are 4 eco-zones in the Saskatchewan region, the taiga eco-zone, boreal plain eco-zone and the boreal shield eco-zone and the prairie ecozone (Benders 2010). The Saskatchewan region is covered by the boreal forest except the sand dunes of Lake Athabasca. It is the largest active sand dunes in the world. Another region of the Saskatchewan contains sand dunes known as the ' great sand hills', which covers about 300 square kilometers. The highest point in the Saskatchewan region is the cypress hills, located less than 2 km from the provincial boundary of the Alberta (Rands et al.2013). Climate The region faces a continental type of climate Summers are generally short with bitter cold winter season. Saskatchewan is one of the tornado active regions of the Canadian province (Benders 2010). Drainage system The lowest point of the Saskatchewan region is the beach of the Athabasca Lake. The region contains 14 major drainage system, most of which drains in to the Hudson Bay, Arctic oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the major rivers of Saskatchewan are the Saskatchewan River, Churchill River, Beaver River, Battle River and Fond Du Lac River (Benders 2010). Soil types Saskatchewan region consists of mainly forest soils of the northern region and praire soil of the south. Mineral soils and poorly drained peat soils are found in the northern parts of the Saskatchewan region (McLeman and Ploeger 2012). The biodiversity of Saskatchewan Flora and fauna of the eco-regions compared to the other parts The Saskatchewan region is marked by six regions of natural plant life, which runs from the North West to the south easterly direction. The northeastern part of the province contains subarctic woodland. To the south of the subarctic woodlands lie the boreal forests. To the south of the shield margin contains mixed forest belts. The aspen parkland is situated to the south of the boreal forests (Biodiversity - Environment - Government of Saskatchewan 2017) The southerly zones are the habitat of rich colorful wild flowers. Many animal species such as grizzly bear, bison, wolf, black footed ferret are found in the forests. The Saskatchewan is the home for a large number of exotic fauna like the white tailed deer, the barren ground caribou and the American badger, burrowing owl, American robin (Kricsfalusy and Trevisan 2014). The Athabasca plain provides lichen as food to the barren ground caribou. Some of the flora and the fauna of the Saskatchewan region are similar to that of the other eco regions of the Canada whereas some of the faunas are exotic and are confined to this region only (Parker 2010). The eco-regions of Canada are the home for many exotic varieties of animals, which cannot be found in the other regions of the world. The Saskatchewan biodiversity is similar to the taiga region of the North West Canadian province (Poulton 2015). The biodiversity of Saskatchewan is extraordinary unlike the other provinces of Canada. It is very difficult to find such a variety of life in any other part of the world other than the Amazon of Africa. Starting from smallest insects to towering trees the ecosystem is quite unique in comparison to the other parts of the world (Sochat et al.2010) Population and land regions of Saskatchewan As per the census 2011, the largest ethnic group in Saskatchewan is German (28.6%) followed by Scottish (18.9%), English, Canadian, Irish, Ukrainian, French, Norwegians and polish (Biodiversity - Environment - Government of Saskatchewan. 2017). The southern half of the Saskatchewan is mostly inhabited for living. Two fifth of the Saskatchewan is covered with forests. Forest industry is not large and is mostly confined to southern boreal forest. A large portion of the Canadas farmland is located in this province. Agriculture has always been the mainstay of Saskatchewan (Biodiversity - Environment - Government of Saskatchewan 2017). Since, Saskatchewan is rich in mineral resources; Saskatchewan has been one of the largest producers of the potash and is also a producer of natural gas and oil. Some facts about Saskatchewan Saskatoon is the largest city of the Saskatchewan. One of the interesting facts about Saskatchewan is that the place contains deposits of rare earth elements, which can be seen in the periodic tables. According to different reports the place contains substantial deposits of Uranium and neodymium, which are used in permanent magnets. Other elements like cerium and lanthanum are also found, which finds uses in rechargeable batteries (Benders 2010). References Benders, Q., 2010. Agate Basin Archaeology in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. Biodiversity - Environment - Government of Saskatchewan. 2017. Environment.gov.sk.ca. [accessed 2017 Nov 22]. https://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/biodiversity. Kricsfalusy, V.V. and Trevisan, N., 2014. Prioritizing regionally rare plant species for conservation using herbarium data.Biodiversity and conservation,23(1), pp.39-61. McLeman, R.A. and Ploeger, S.K., 2012. Soil and its influence on rural drought migration: insights from Depression-era Southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada.Population and Environment,33(4), pp.304-332. Parker, S.S., 2010. Buried treasure: soil biodiversity and conservation.Biodiversity and conservation,19(13), pp.3743-3756. Poulton, D.W., 2015. Biodiversity and conservation offsets: a guide for Albertans.Browser Download This Paper. Rands, M.R., Adams, W.M., Bennun, L., Butchart, S.H., Clements, A., Coomes, D., Entwistle, A., Hodge, I., Kapos, V., Scharlemann, J.P. and Sutherland, W.J., 2010. Biodiversity conservation: challenges beyond 2010.Science,329(5997), pp.1298-1303. Shochat, E., Lerman, S. and Fernndez-Juricic, E., 2010. Birds in urban ecosystems: population dynamics, community structure, biodiversity, and conservation.Urban ecosystem ecology, (urbanecosysteme), pp.75-86.