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Black flies are small, dark-coloured insects belonging to the family Simuliidae. Of the world’s more than 2,300 species, at least 164 are found in Canada. Black flies reproduce in streams and are found all across Canada. They are particularly common in northern temperate and subarctic regions. Because female black flies need to feed on blood to lay eggs, their biting can be a nuisance to humans and other animals. Among the most common and notorious black flies in Canada are Simulium truncatum and Simulium venustum.

The Quill Lakes are three connected saline lakes in southeastern Saskatchewan. They are located 150 km north of Regina and 152 km east of Saskatoon. From west to east the lakes are named Big Quill, Middle Quill (also known as Mud Lake) and Little Quill. Despite its name, at 181 km² Little Quill is the second largest of the three lakes. Big Quill is the largest at 307 km². The Quill Lakes’ elevation is 516 m.

The Trans Mountain Expansion is a project to build about 980 km of new pipe, most of which will run parallel to the existing Trans Mountain oil pipeline. The new line will carry diluted bitumen, or “dilbit,” from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia. The expansion will increase the pipeline route’s overall capacity from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day.

The project’s first owner, Kinder Morgan Canada, sold it to the Government of Canada in 2018. The Trans Mountain Expansion has been a focus of environmental and economic debates, as well as political conflicts. The $12.6 billion project is now under construction.

In Canada, all crustacean species with significant economic value are in the order Decapoda. Decapods, which have five pairs of walking legs, include lobsters, crab and shrimp. These species constitute most of the dollar value of Canadian fisheries. In some areas, particularly in the Atlantic provinces, the local economy is almost completely dependent on them.

In commerce, commodities are interchangeable goods or services. Many natural resources in Canada are viewed as commodities. They are a major source of the country’s wealth. Examples of commodities include a barrel of crude oil, an ounce of gold, or a contract to clear snow during the winter. Commodity products often supply the production of other goods or services. Many are widely traded in futures exchanges (see Commodity Trading).

The Fraser River Lowland is a triangular area in southwestern British Columbia. The eastern apex of the triangle is at Hope, about 160 km inland from the Strait of Georgia. From here, the lowland broadens to the west to a width of about 50 km. The international boundary between British Columbia and Washington State crosses the southwestern part of the lowland. The Coast Mountains form the northern boundary of the delta-lowland. The Fraser River Lowland is the largest area of level land with suitable agricultural soils in coastal British Columbia.

The Line 3 Replacement Program (also known as L3RP) is an upgrade to the Enbridge Mainline pipeline. The existing crude oil pipeline runs from Hardisty, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. The 1,660 km long upgrade is the largest project in the history of Calgary-based Enbridge. The Alberta to Manitoba section of the L3RP has been in service since December 2019.

Inuit and subarctic Indigenous peoples have traversed the North since time immemorial. Indigenous knowledge and modes of transportation helped early European explorers and traders travel and survive on these expanses. Later settlement depended to an extraordinary degree on the development of transportation systems. Today, the transportation connections of northern communities vary from place to place. While the most remote settlements are often only accessible by air, some have road, rail and marine connections. These are often tied to industrial projects such as mines.

Caribou hunting was and is still an important means of subsistence for many Indigenous people in Canada. Caribou are hunted by groups from the Arctic, Subarctic, Plateau, and the northern part of the Eastern Woodlands. In the past, the animals not only provided these people with meat and grease, but also with hides and sinew for shelters and clothing, and bone and antler for tools and weapons.

Disastrous fires may result from arson, accident or uncontrolled forest fire. Their impact may include lives lost, people evacuated and property damaged. Numerous fires, especially forest fires, occur in Canada every year; this article details the worst that have occurred throughout the country’s history.

A forest fire is a moving combustion reaction, spreading outwards in a band from its ignition point, leaving burned-out forest behind it. On average, about 6,000 forest fires occur annually in Canada.

Irish moss is a type of seaweed that is commercially harvested in Canada’s Maritime provinces. It is mainly composed of carrageenan, a gelatinous substance. Carrageenan extracted from Irish moss is used as a thickening and gelling agent in foods and other products. It is also used to clarify beverages such as beer.

Bees are members of the insect order Hymenoptera (including sawflies, wasps, bees and ants) whose habits of feeding on plant pollen and nectar have made them important pollinators of flowering plants and crops. There are more than 20,000 species worldwide, and nearly 800 can be found in Canada. Bees’ nesting habits range from solitary to highly eusocial. Most bees are solitary, wild species, but some are kept or managed for pollination of crops or to produce honey, including the non-native western honey bee (Apis mellifera). Other familiar bees include bumble bees (genus Bombus), mason bees (genus Osmia) and leafcutter bees (genus Megachile). More than a third of all bee species found in Canada are either mining bees in the genus Andrena, or sweat bees in the genus Lasioglossum.

The Lac La Croix Indigenous pony, also known as the Lac La Croix Indian pony or the Ojibwa pony, is thought to be the only existing breed of horse developed by Indigenous people in Canada. It takes its name from Lac La Croix First Nation in northwestern Ontario, where it was last found in the wild. Known in the Ojibwa language as bebezhigooganzhii or mishdatim (meaning “one big toenail”), it is a small, semi-feral horse that once lived in the wild and worked as a service animal — but is also considered a spirit animal — for the Ojibwa people of northwestern Ontario and northern Minnesota. Today, this friendly, all-purpose breed is used in equine therapy, Indigenous heritage programs and tourism. Conservation efforts in Canada and the United States strive to protect the breed, which is critically endangered.

Sometimes called evergreens, most coniferous trees keep their foliage year-round. There are over 600 living species of conifers, and while there is some debate over how many are native to Canada, the number is approximately 30.

Maples are trees and shrubs in the genus Acer, previously classified within the maple family Aceraceae, but now placed by some taxonomists in Sapindaceae (Soapberry family), which also includes horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastaneum). There are approximately 150 species of maple around the world, most in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, and the majority native to eastern Asia. Ten maple species are native to Canada, perhaps the best known being sugar maple (Acer saccharum) of eastern Canada and the northeastern United States. The Canadian flag displays a stylized maple leaf, and maple is Canada’s official arboreal emblem. Maples are not only important to Canada symbolically, they are also ecologically and economically significant.

Trees are single-stemmed, perennial, woody plants taller than 3 m and exceeding 8 cm in diameter at breast height; shrubs are multistemmed and smaller. These definitions are somewhat arbitrary, since many species (eg, willow, alder, cherry, maple) can grow as trees or shrubs, depending on the environment. Counting the 30-odd shrubs that assume tree form under favourable conditions, there are about 140 native Canadian trees.

Cedar, in Canada, refers to evergreen conifers (genus Thuja) of the cypress family (Cupressaceae).

The sweet apple (Malus pumila) is a cultivated species of the rose family and Canada's most important tree fruit crop.

Crab apple (genus Malus) is a deciduous tree that differs from the orchard apple in bearing smaller, often acidic or astringent fruits.