Maptour Page 3
Maptour: Canada's Ecological Regions ca 1500 CE
Landforms, Flora, and Fauna


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Table: Circumpolar Domain

Try This:

  • Under LAYER CONTROLS, turn off the checkbox for “Modern Geography.”
  • On the ZOOM/PAN toolbar, click on the Zoom in button and use it on the map to zoom in near the number 1213 (north of Hudson Bay).
  • Click on the "Related Materials" drop-down menu and select Tables - “Circumpolar Domain.”
  • In the “Descriptions of Ecological Regions” box, scroll down to entries numbered 1212 and 1213.

Notice ...

  • Canada’s ecological landscape is a nesting of smaller, more specialized zones set within larger, more general ones. Zone 1212 lies within 1210, which in turn lies within 1200, itself within 1000.
  • Ecologists have developed a language of headings to describe this hierarchy: domain, division, province, section. (These are defined at the bottom of the box.)
  • “Ecological” provinces are not to be confused with “political” provinces.
  • Cultural (that is, human) elements are part of our understanding of “ecology.”

Consider!

  • Zone 1213, commonly known as “the barren lands” by early explorers, is aptly named. At another time, check the chapter "Exploration to Mid-19th Century."
  • The ecological diversity of Canada is immense, but well documented.
  • This map carries information as of five centuries ago, and one should not assume that the ecology of the 21st century is exactly the same.