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Humans have been exploring the North American Arctic for centuries, beginning about 5,000 years ago when Palaeoeskimos were looking for a homeland.

Sodium chloride (NaCl), or common salt, is ubiquitous in the environment. In its solid form, salt crystallizes as colourless cubes and is called rock salt. Salt is also known to geologists as halite. Its crystal structure was the first to be determined by X-rays.

Mite is a common name for most members of the subclass Acari, a large, diverse group of tiny arachnids that also includes ticks.

Coal is a fossil fuel that has been used as a source of energy in Canada since the 18th century. Canada is home to 0.6 per cent of the world’s coal resources. Most of the country’s coal reserves (over 95 per cent) are found in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. In recent years, the environmental movement has opposed the coal industry for disrupting local ecosystems, creating adverse health effects and for its large contribution to the carbon-dioxide emissions that drive climate change. In an effort to curb harmful emissions, the federal government has signalled its intention to phase out traditional coal-fired electricity by 2030, and Alberta has a plan to achieve the same goal as a province.

Plant disease can decrease the economic, aesthetic and biological value of all kinds of plants. Plant pathology (phytopathology) is the study of the nature, causes, prevention and socioeconomic aspects of plant diseases.

The tuna is a swift, elegant marine fish of class Actinopterygii, order Perciformes, family Scombridae (mackerels).

Gem-quality diamonds crystallize as octahedrons (8 faces), trisoctahedrons (24 faces), hexoctahedrons (48 faces) or a combination of these. Diamond owes its supreme standing among all the gemstones to 4 specific attributes.

Nepheline syenite is a white to light grey medium-grained IGNEOUS ROCK. It consists mostly of soda feldspar, nepheline and potash feldspar, accessory magnesium and iron-rich minerals.

Bison are large, even-toed hoofed mammals of the family Bovidae. Two subspecies of bison exist in North America: the plains bison (Bison bison bison) and the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae). Historically, the plains bison lived primarily in the Great Plains of central North America, while the wood bison lived further north, from Alaska into the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and in the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, it’s estimated that plains bison numbered 30 million and wood bison 170,000. Various aspects of European colonization led to the rapid depopulation of North America’s bison. By the late 1800s, plains bison no longer existed in Canada, and wood bison numbered about 200. Conservation efforts in both Canada and the United States mean that today, North America’s plains bison population fluctuates between 350,000 and 400,000, and wood bison between 5,000 and 7,000.

The wolf is the largest wild member of the dog family. Living wolves belong to the Holarctic species Canis lupus (except red wolf, C. rufus of the southeast US).

Tick is a common name for a group of external bloodsucking parasitic arthropods of vertebrates (mainly of terrestrial mammals and birds).

Scale Insect, highly specialized insect belonging to order Hemiptera, suborder Homoptera, super-family Coccoidea.

Since 1967 WWF-Canada has been working with business, government and the public to stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment, and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

Warbler is a name applied to several groups of birds, primarily the New World wood warblers, and Old World warblers of which only 3 species commonly breed in Canada.

The Fisher (Martes pennanti) is a member of the weasel family, with a typically pointed face and rounded ears. In Canada, fishers live in the boreal and temperate forests of almost all the provinces and territories, with the exception of Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.

Wind erosion processes consist of abrasion, the scouring of exposed surfaces by the sand-blasting action of wind-borne material; and deflation, the removal of sand-sized and smaller particles by the wind.

  Cloud, visible suspension in the atmosphere composed of tiny water droplets or ICE crystals from about one to a few hundred micrometres in diameter.