Eastern forest–boreal transition
The Eastern forest-boreal transition is a Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests ecoregion of North America, mostly in eastern Canada.
Setting
The ecoregion includes the Lake Temiskaming lowland, the southern Laurentians, and the Algonquin-Lake Nipissing areas. There are sections of this forest in the Algonquin-Pontiac, Middle Ottawa, Georgian Bay, Sudbury-North Bay, Saguenay, Haileybury Clay, Temagami and Algoma areas of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest region.
The climate of the region consists of warm summers and cold, snowy winters. [1]
Flora
The forest includes a mixture of trees from balsam fir to black ash including the largest areas of original red pine and white pine in the world and one of the largest areas of original forest in the United States, Five Ponds Wilderness Area. As well as the trees the forests support a range of other plants including lichens and fungi.
Fauna
Old-growth forest]]s such as the pinewoods found in this ecoregion are home to a complex variety of long-established wildlife including many invertebrates, birds such as wood duck, and mammals such as moose and black bears.
Threats and preservation
These forests have been severely damaged by centuries of clearance for timber, roads, agricultural and urban development, recently including ski facilities.
See also
References and external links
- Ricketts, T.H., E. Dinerstein, D.M. Olson, C.J. Loucks, et al. (1999). Terrestrial Ecoregions of North America: A Conservation Assessment. World Wildlife Fund - United States and Canada. Island Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 337-340.
- National Geographic WildWorld ecoregion profile
- Central U.S. hardwood forests images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu