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Create AccountThe amount of rain or snow that reaches the ground can vary dramatically on any particular given day, even over short distances. Many people have experienced a near-deluge of rain in their backyard, while at the same time their front yard or their neighbour's home remains quite dry.
A wildlife preserve is an area of land or water set aside from at least some forms of development or recreational use, particularly from industrial use, hunting and motorized recreation, to protect wildlife and their habitats.
Termites are social insects of the infraorder Isoptera. They may be thought of as “social cockroaches,” as they evolved from their wood-eating cockroach ancestors approximately 200 million years ago.
A species is endangered if there are threats to its survival. Plants are put at risk for several reasons, including: climate change and the loss of natural habitat to cities, agriculture and industry. In Canada, these activities threaten entire natural ecosystems, such as older forests and Prairie grasslands. As of 2021, 250 plant species are at risk in Canada, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. In addition, four are extirpated and one is extinct. The committee’s definition of a wildlife species includes taxonomic categories as well as geographically distinct populations. For example, the bent spike-rush (Eleocharis geniculate) is included on the list of at risk plant species twice, as there are two different populations, one in British Columbia and one in Ontario, facing different threats to their survival. (See also Endangered Animals in Canada.)
Sparrow is the name given to several unrelated groups of birds. Sparrows are classified in 3 families: Emberizidae, Estrildidae, and Passeridae.
FOSSIL bones were first discovered in 1978 in the rocks formed in the now vanished Haughton Lake.
Several steps are involved when COSEWIC evaluates the status of species. The committee begins by commissioning status reports on species suspected of being in danger.
Ozone depletion is a chemical thinning of the OZONE LAYER in the stratosphere or upper atmosphere. Scientists determined in the 1970s that it is caused by ozone depleting substances (ODSs), particularly by the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Having been mapped on foot, by dogsled, and from the air by rugged geologists from the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, the Canadian High Arctic was untouched by vertebrate palaeontologists until the mid-1970s.
The heron (Ardeidae) family of birds comprises 60 species worldwide, 12 in Canada (including true herons, egrets, night herons and bitterns).
Albertas energy minister, Steve West, spent much of last week wearing a tight smile, his clenched jaw and square shoulders set as firmly as his conviction that people who blame the oilpatch for the next centurys foul weather have lost their heads.
Successful actions to protect the ENVIRONMENT and conserve natural RESOURCES constitute environmental management.
Turtles are egg-laying, toothless reptiles with limb girdles roofed over by a wide rib cage and fused to bony plates in the skin.
The first animals were microscopic in size and left no known fossil remains. The oldest animal fossils occur in sediments deposited under shallow equatorial seas over 600 million years ago.
Geomorphology is related to GEOLOGY because of the importance of long timescales, tectonic deformation of Earth's crust (seePLATE TECTONICS), and rock and sediment properties; and to physical geography through its association with CLIMATE, BIOGEOGRAPHY, SOIL SCIENCE, and HYDROLOGY.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on March 18, 2002. Partner content is not updated.
Many animals in Canada face the risk of extinction. Animals are put at risk for several reasons, including: climate change, the loss of forest and grassland to cities and agriculture, hunting, fishing, and the pollution of lakes and rivers. As of 2021, 554 animal species are at risk in Canada, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. In addition, 18 are extirpated and 18 extinct. The committee’s definition of a wildlife species includes taxonomic categories as well as geographically distinct populations. For example, the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is included in the list of at risk animal species six times, as there are six different populations facing different threats to their survival. (See also Endangered Plants in Canada.)
The James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (JBNQA) is a legal agreement signed on 11 November 1975 by the government of Quebec, the government of Canada, Hydro-Québec and two of its subsidiaries, the Grand Council of the Crees of Quebec and the Northern Quebec Inuit Association. Described by many as the “first modern treaty,” the JBNQA redefined and framed land management as well as the relationship between the Quebecois state and the Indigenous peoples of the James Bay and Northern Quebec region (see James Bay Project, Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada).
The goose is a member of a widespread group of waterfowl ranging in size from the giant Canada goose to the diminutive cackling goose.
