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The park correlates pitcher plant morpology with availability of atmospheric nitrogen, as the latter may affect pitcher-plant development.

What? Changes in processes and stressors at bogs and poor fens in Cape Breton Highlands National Park are being monitored through Northern Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea) leaf morphology. When? Monitoring frequency for this program is on a five year cycle, with site visits occurring in July and August.

This dataset displays the geographic areas within which critical habitat for terrestrial species at risk listed on Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) occurs in Ontario. Under SARA, is “the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species’ critical habitat in the recovery strategy or action plan for the species.”

The geographic area within which critical habitat may occur is represented as “grid squares”. These are coarse (1, 10, 50 or 100 km2) squares based on a standardized UTM grid or coarse National Topographic System (NTS) scales (1:50, 1:250) that serve as a flag to review the associated species’ recovery document. However, not all of the area within these grid squares is critical habitat.

Herring gull (Larus arentatus, HERG), great blue heron (Ardea Herodias GBHE), double-crested cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus, DCCO) and ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis, RBGU) have been monitored in Pukaskwa National Park since 1977 as part of the colonial waterbird monitoring program. A complete count of active nests on islands found along the ~120km of coast of Pukaskwa is conducted based on the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) protocol. The nest count is carried out during the peak of breeding over a period of 2-3 weeks. From 1977 – 1981, surveys were conducted annually and used an island numbering system (Old Colony Number in datasheet).

Two classes of beaches are distinguished, those with infrastructure and those without. Beaches with infrastructure: open sandy beaches along the shore of a great lake, within approximately 200 meters of a structure. Beaches without infrastructure: open sandy beaches along the shore of a great lake, not within 200 meters of a structure. The Southern Ontario Land Resource Information System didn't digitize beaches.

The rapid beach recession in Point Pelee National Park has resulted in sustained breaching of the barrier beach in the Northeastern corner of the park. Continuous exposure to Lake Erie via a breach could alter marsh plant and animal communities and eventually result in total loss of marsh and shoreline habitat in the park. This measure involves undertaking simple spatial analysis using GIS and aerial photographs.

Gwaii Haanas has partnered with ECCC to monitor a set of permanent plots mapping colony structure and burrow occupancy rate by excavating samples of burrows of Ancient Murrelet and Cassin’s Auklet. The data are used to determine if the breeding population areas are changing at specific key nesting colonies and if the change signifies an increasing or decreasing population trend. An estimated 1.5 million seabirds breed colonially on the 200+ islands, islets and rocks of Haida Gwaii, including globally and nationally significant proportions of 5 seabird species. A significant threat to breeding seabirds is predation by non-native mammals, notably raccoons and rats.

Maintaining safe recreational waters requires a concerted effort from all of its stakeholders. From government at all levels, to local businesses and industry, to beach managers, community members and recreational water users - we all have a role to play in helping keep our beaches clean and our swimming waters safe.

Data Sources: Banque informatisée des oiseaux de mer au Québec (BIOMQ: ECCC-CWS Quebec Region) Atlantic Colonial Waterbird Database (ACWD: ECCC-CWS Atlantic Region).. Both the BIOMQ and ACWD contain records of individual colony counts, by species, for known colonies located in Eastern Canada. Although some colonies are censused annually, most are visited much less frequently. Methods used to derive colony population estimates vary markedly among colonies and among species.

These fish-eating colonial waterbirds breed and nest in colonies on islands in and around Fathom Five National Marine Park. Five species of colonial waterbird are monitored. These birds and their eggs are effective measures of environmental contamination and aquatic ecosystem health.