Browse "Nature & Geography"

Aster [Lat, "star"], the common name applied mainly to 2 herbaceous genera (Aster and Callistephus) of flowering plants in family Compositae or Asteraceae. Over 250 species of true Aster are known worldwide. Of 52 Aster species native to Canada, about 40 have been brought under cultivation. A.

Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), probably the best-known member of the Salmonidae family, occurs on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Alcidae is a family of highly specialized seabirds that contains auks (including the now extinct great auk), auklets, murres, murrelets, razorbills, dovekies, guillemots and puffins.

Centred on the wide Thomsen River valley on Banks Island, Aulavik National Park (set aside 1992, 12 200 km2) has an Inuvialuktun name that means "where people travel." The name was suggested by one of the elders of Sachs Harbour, the only community on the island.

In spring and summer the most abundant substance in leaves is chlorophyll, which gives them their green colour. Chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis, the process which converts the energy of sunlight into sugar. Sunlight is also necessary for the synthesis of chlorophyll itself.

Located on the Cumberland Peninsula of Baffin Island, Nunavut, Auyuittuq National Park (established 2001, 19 089 km2) was Canada's first national park located north of the Arctic Circle. It was first set up as a national park reserve in 1976 and established as a national park through the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement.

An avalanche is a rapid, downslope movement of snow, with varying proportions of ice, water, rock, soil and vegetation.

It was just past 1:30 a.m. on New Year's Day, and most of the residents of the isolated northern Quebec community of Kangiqsualujjuaq were celebrating in a school gym. People exchanged hugs and warm wishes as they listened to the draw for a $1,000 door prize. Then disaster struck.

Back River, 974 km long, rises in Contwoyto Lake, north of Great Slave Lake, NWT, and flows northeast across the Barren Lands of Nunavut to Chantrey Inlet, south of King William Island.

The American badger (Taxidea taxus) is the only North American member of the weasel family specialized for burrowing and capturing prey underground.

Banff National Park (established 1885, 6,641 km2) is Canada's first and most visited National Park.

Barite (BaSO4) is a white, colourless, gray, brown, yellow, blue or red mineral found in sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. It is composed of 65.7% barium oxide (BaO) and 34.3% sulphur trioxide (SO3).

Barley, common name for members of genus Hordeum of the grass family (Gramineae).

Barnacle, common name for marine invertebrates of subclass Cirripedia, class Crustacea.

Basil, seeHERBS.

Bass, name applied to members of 4 fish families: temperate bass (Moronidae); sunfish (Centrarchidae); temperate ocean bass (Acropomatidae); and sea bass (Serranidae).

 Bats are nocturnal mammals of the order Chiroptera (literally "hand wing"). Bats are the only flying mammals. Most bats in Canada are plain-nosed (family Vespertilionidae).

Early land plants have long been known from Eastern Canada, thanks to pioneering work by Sir J. William Dawson, father of Devonian palaeobotany and principal of McGill University from 1855 to 1893. But this record poorly represented the earliest phase of land colonization.

Bears (of the family Ursidae) are stocky, bob-tailed mammals with 5 clawed toes on each paw. Three species inhabit Canada.

Infrequent attacks on humans have been made by grizzly (or brown), black or polar bears. Bears can run at speeds exceeding 50 km/h, are significantly stronger than people and can inflict serious injury.