Mixedwood Plains Ecozone (Canada)
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The Mixedwood Plains Ecozone is the Canadian ecozone with the most southern extent, covering all of southwestern Ontario, and parts of central and northeastern Ontario and southern Quebec along the Saint Lawrence River. It was originally dominated by temperate deciduous forest growing mostly on limestone covered by glacial till. It is the smallest ecozone in Canada, but it includes the country's most productive industrial and commercial region,[1] and is home to nearly half of Canada's population, including its two largest cities, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec.[2][3] Hence, little of the original forest cover remains, making protection of the remaining forests a high conservation priority. This ecozone includes two regions described by J.S. Rowe in his classic Forest Regions of Canada: the entire Deciduous Forest Region, and the southern portions of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region.[4] In the province of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources maps this area as Site Regions 6E and 7E.[5]
Mixedwood Plains | |
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Ecology | |
Borders | |
Geography | |
Area | 168,204 km2 (64,944 sq mi) |
Country | Canada |
Provinces | |
Climate type | Humid continental (hot summer in some areas) |
The United States uses a different terminiology; the corresponding Level I ecoregion of the United States Environmental Protection Agency system is the Eastern Temperate Forest ecoregion. To deal with the differences in names between Canada and the United States, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation has produced a continental atlas. In this atlas, the Mixed Wood Plains is a Level II Ecoregion 8.1, which includes the above areas within Canada, as well as adjoining parts of the United States.[6]