Saskatchewan's Biological Diversity

Running head: BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
Introduction
Geography of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a province in Canada that forms the border the southern parts of the
United States. The southern plains of the Saskatchewan are covered in grasslands and the
northern part of the region is covered by the Canadian Shield plateau(Benders 2010). The
provincial capital of the Saskatchewan region is Regina (Benders 2010). Saskatchewan is the
sixth most populous province of Canada consisting of about 1.13 million populations.
Saskatchewan is has a boundary of Alberta in the west, northwestern territories in the north,
Manitoba on the east, Nunavut to the north east, U.S on the south by the states of Montana and
north Dakota.
Relief of the Saskatchewan region
Saskatchewan consists of two most natural regions, the interior plains in the north and the
Canadian Shield in the south. There are 4 eco-zones in the Saskatchewan region, the taiga eco-
zone, boreal plain eco-zone and the boreal shield eco-zone and the prairie ecozone (Benders
2010).
The Saskatchewan region is covered by the boreal forest except the sand dunes of Lake
Athabasca. It is the largest active sand dunes in the world. Another region of the Saskatchewan
contains sand dunes known as the ' great sand hills', which covers about 300 square kilometers.
The highest point in the Saskatchewan region is the cypress hills, located less than 2 km from the
provincial boundary of the Alberta (Rands et al.2013).

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BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN
Climate
The region faces a continental type of climate Summers are generally short with bitter
cold winter season. Saskatchewan is one of the tornado active regions of the Canadian province
(Benders 2010).
Drainage system
The lowest point of the Saskatchewan region is the beach of the Athabasca Lake. The
region contains 14 major drainage system, most of which drains in to the Hudson Bay, Arctic
oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the major rivers of Saskatchewan are the Saskatchewan
River, Churchill River, Beaver River, Battle River and Fond Du Lac River (Benders 2010).
Soil types
Saskatchewan region consists of mainly forest soils of the northern region and praire soil of the
south. Mineral soils and poorly drained peat soils are found in the northern parts of the
Saskatchewan region (McLeman and Ploeger 2012).
The biodiversity of Saskatchewan
Flora and fauna of the eco-regions compared to the other parts
The Saskatchewan region is marked by six regions of natural plant life, which runs from
the North West to the south easterly direction. The northeastern part of the province contains
subarctic woodland. To the south of the subarctic woodlands lie the boreal forests. To the south
of the shield margin contains mixed forest belts. The aspen parkland is situated to the south of
the boreal forests (Biodiversity - Environment - Government of Saskatchewan 2017)