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Canada's Physical Makeup
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Land Type |
% of total |
| Open lands,Alpine Tundra,wetlands | 14% |
| Arctic tundra, ice fields | 27.4% |
| Transportation | 0.4% |
| Agriculture | 6.6% |
| Forests | 43.7% |
| Urban | 0.3% |
| Fresh water | 7.6% |
Source: Canadian Geographic
Taiga is the Russian word for Boreal forest, the belt of coniferous dominated forest encircling the northern hemisphere. The boreal forests represent the single largest terrestrial ecosystem on earth and make up one third of the world's forests, covering 15 million square kilometers ranging from Russia, Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and parts of the Korean Peninsula, China, Mongolia and Japan.
The word tundra derives from the Finnish word for barren or treeless land. The tundra is the simplest biome in terms of species composition and food chains.
Cordillera- Mountains
Montane- lower vegetation belt on mountains
The forests of the lower and middle slopes are called montane forests. Those of the upper slopes are known as subalpine forests.
Canada's Ecozones
click to enlarge
Links
Ecology of the Montane Spruce Zone
Montane Species, Jasper National Park
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