By: Stephanie Paolone and Ben Clarke

There are three Ecozone regions in Ontario: • Hudson Plains • Boreal Shield • Mixedwood Plains

• Canada is made up of fifteen terrestrial ecozones • Three of these ecozones are found in the Ontario Region • The Boreal Shield stretches 3 800 km from Newfoundland to Alberta and includes parts of six provinces • It holds 20% of Canada’s land mass and 10% of its fresh water • The Hudson Plains ecozone extends from northern Ontario into northeastern Manitoba and western Québec • The Mixedwood Plains have become the commercial and industrial heartland of Canada interlaced with national and international transportation routes

• This ecozone is centered in the northern Ontario region • There are low- lying swampy plains, which are poorly drained •The landscape rarely rises above 120 m in elevation •Change in elevation in the belt of raised beaches where glaciers from the last ice age are rebounding the land • The north has few trees due to the generally cool climate • The forest is dense in the south with a sparser vegetation such as white and black spruce and tamarack • Wet areas produce moss, lichen and sedges

• Moderately long, cold winters to moderately short, cool summers • The soils in this ecozone are poorly developed organic and permafrost • The Human activities include trapping, hunting and recreation • This ecozone has a very low population totaling only 10 000 residents • The precipitation rate ranges from 400 to 700 mm • There is a growing season in this ecozone of 90 to 150 days

• This ecozone covers most of the Ontario region and is the largest of the fifteen regions in Canada • It is where the Canadian Shield and the Boreal Forest overlap • Millions of ponds, lakes and wetlands are in this ecozone, which were left by the glaciers • About 80% of the land is covered in Jack Pine, White and Black Spruce, and Balsam Fir forests • Human activities include recreation, tourism, forestry and mining • Soils are heavily leached, and have bare rock and swampy areas •this ecozone experiences short warm summers and long cold winters, which are moderated along the Great Lakes

• This ecozone is found in the south of Ontario and covers the lower Great Lakes St. Lawrence River Valley • It is the smallest terrestrial ecozone in Canada • This region has extensive waterways, rolling plains and leached, wet climate soils with a warm growing season • Due to the Great Lakes this region has abundant fresh water resources and rainfall • Cool, short winters with relatively long, mild summers

•The Mixedwood Plains is part of the Deciduous and Mixed forests containing maple, birch oak elm and pine trees • However, little of the original forests remain due to urbanization • Some wildlife, such as squirrels, raccoons and groundhogs are able to adapt to the man-made changes • Human activities in this region include manufacturing, agriculture due to fertile soils and urbanizing because of the large number of major cities in Canada • This ecozone houses almost half of Canada’s population

• The province of Ontario occupies three of the fifteen ecozones in Canada • The Hudson Plain ecozone in the north has swampy plains and poor drainage • The Boreal Shield covers most of the region with numerous ponds, lakes and wetlands left by the glacial age • The Mixedwood Plains ecozone found in southern Ontario is the smallest ecozone in Canada • This ecozone has fertile soil with a warm growing season • Most of the the urbanization and industrialization of Ontario is found in this region