These specialties are not found any where else in Algonquin.

• Pickerel Frogs (squares spots instead of round like the leopard frog)
• Northern Water snakes
• Wood Turtle

Not unlike the Boreal Forest, algonquin has northern habitats that include Black Spruce, Balsam Firs, Tamarack, and Peatlands. Peatland plants and animals are found in this habitat.

A fish found in Cedar Lake and on the Petawawa River that survivored the last ice age. It preys on the relict crustaneans.

Type of bird found in the banks of clay in the Ottawa St. Lawrence Lowlands.  They build colonies of cavities and often found nesting in areas where they are excavating deposits.

Formerly nested on the Barron Canyon cliffs but have alarmingly disappeared in recent years. They built mud nests under the cliff's edges.

Calciphilic plants are found in the Barron Canyon (formally called South Petawawa) because

1. It is a fault line that expanded over time
2. It is really a branch of the Petawawa River

A tree rarely found growing in Algonquin is growing in the Barron Canyon.

A very large mass of igneous rock, usually granite; often forms the base of mountain ranges; uncovered by erosion

Ref: Nature Guide to Ontario pg 398

Beaver meadows are habitat typically full of sedges and grasses growing on rich organic materials (nutrient sinks).  Moose use these meadows for mating and Eastern wolves for rendezvous site.

Made by beavers by daming up a creek or stream near the sound of rushing water creating a safe living environment to eat, sleep, and raise a family. Beavers and their ponds are common throughout Algonquin park.

A cavity nesting, fish eating bird found nesting on the sides of the mounds of clay in the Ottawa St. Lawrence Lowland region.

A butterfly no bigger than your thumb nail found only in Newington and Alfred Bogs in the Ottawa St. Lawrence Lowland.

Located in Eastern Algonquin, the Brent Crater 4km wide is one of the world's most famous fossil meteorite craters. Millions of years ago a meteorite smashed into the hard Canadian Shield altering the geological activity and added calcium to the substrate. Found between Gilmour and Tecumseh Lakes near Brent

Calciphilic fern that grows only  on the rocks of the southern edge of the Brent Crater. A species common in the limestone areas of souther Ontario.

Left behind by the Champlain sea in the Ottawa St. Lawrence Lowland. These shells are made from calcium carbonate.

Very closely related to the Eastern wolf because of cross breeding it is found in the more developed and agricultural areas of southern and northern Ontario.

A bird such as a Red-Crossbill that like to eat the seeds inside of pine cones found on the Eastern Side of Algonquin Park

A flycatcher (bird) that nests on the cliffs of the Barron Canyon and is camouflaged with mosses.

Grows along the Petawawa River and you can see the BROWSE LINES of the deer.

Elusive and shy these wolves are now found in Eastern part of Algonquin Park. They hunt largely at night and are large carnivores. Diet is studied by SCAT Analysis and by the animals they killed. Portions found originally 80% white-tailed Deer, 10% Moose, and 10% Beavers but portions have changed over time to 1/3 deer, beaver, and moose. Deer decreased is caused by change in landscape caused by fires and logging.

The top layer of a lake involved in Spring and Fall turnovers. Warmer in the summer and colder in the winter.

In the autumn, the water of most lakes in Algonquin Park start to cool and the top layer will reach the same temperature as the rest of the lake (4 degrees C).  When all the temperature is the same, the lake begins its Fall turnover.  The wind creates a current that causes the water from the bottom to move to the top and the water on the top goes to the bottom of the lake. Eventually by December the top layer of water will freeze but the bottom will usually remain around 4 degrees C (does not freeze).

A break or fracture in the Earth’s crust which causes a section of bedrock to shift position relative to adjacent blocks of bedrock on the other side of the fault-line.  Movements along fault-lines are often associated with earthquakes. Reference Nature Guide to Ontario, Glossary pg 402

For example, the Petawawa River flows through a Fault Line.

A rare and threatend species found in the sand dunes of Slack Road Sand Dunes in the Ottawa St. Lawrence Lowlands. They are rare and threatened because the habitat is rare.

A small population of warblers that nest in Jack Pines on the Petawawa Military reserve beside Algonquin Park.

Are habitat for ...

• Trout that like deep could water
• Speckled Alder (a shrub) often grows on the shorelines
• Spotted Sandpipers feed along rocky shores
• Mink (weasel) hunts along the shores
• Pickerel weed

• The Lake Superior Coast, including both easy to access and remote sections of the Lake Superior shoreline
• Algoma Hills, fall
• Agawa Rock

A still water system. Beaver ponds are shallow water Lentic system.  Lakes are also lentic aquatic habitats but they are much deeper than Beaver Ponds.

A Peatland habitat (outside of Ottawa) has a board walk.  You will see black spruce, tamarack, leatherleaf, labradour tea, pitcher plants and Spotted Turtle.

Down near Cornwall with typical peatland plants and a special shrub.

Tundra, Hudson Bay Lowland, Boreal Forest, Great Lakes - St. Lawrence and Carolinian

Eastern part of the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Lowland Forest Region. Underlying Sedimentary rocks with relatively deep rich soils. The Ottawa St. Lawrence lowland was affected by the Champlain sea. When the glaciers finally left about 10,000 years ago, there was left a great depression in the Ottawa Valley area because of the ice that had been there and so the Champlain Sea came in. The Champlain sea left behind huge deposits of clay and sand.

A broad, gently sloping plain of sorted silt, sand and gravel deposited by melt water immediately below the glacier; the surface may be characterised by terraced (braided) streams, broad fans of water draining away from the glacier and a somewhat undulating topography; serves as the distribution area for rubble out washed from the glacier.

ref: A Nature Guide to Ontario Glossary pg 407

One major river that flows through Eastern Algonquin that connects to the Ottawa Valley River system. This allows the fish, amphibians, and reptiles to be found in Ottawa River from the Eastern side of Algonquin park.

Insect gleaners most common on the Eastern side of Algonquin Park

Porcupines are more prevalent on the East side of Agonquin Park because of the poplar trees.

A popular event (August) at Algonquin Park. Human howls are used for public education.  In 1963 for researcher used human howls as a method of communication to locate the packs. 

A device used to track the movement of Wolves. Steps used to track movements are

1. Capture them
2. Weigh them - males ~28kg & females ~25kg
3. Put radio transmitter on neck
4. Use the Radio Telemetry to track their  movements

Ram's Head Lady's Slipper

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A tree found on hilltops on East side of Algonquin Park. Their acorns are very nutritious food for a number of animals including chipmunks, red squirrels, and black bears.

A mammal that eats the seeds inside pine cones found on the Eastern Side of Algonquin Park

Wolves mate in late February and nine weeks later have pups. They stay in their den in the ground (4-6 pups)  until July and then the pups are moved by the adults to a summer rendezvous site.

A special shrub (flowering) that was only found in Alfred Bog but now found in Newington Bog in the Ottawa St. Lawrence Lowland.

An insect that likes to eat acidic pine needles.

Migrating arctic-nesting shorebirds occassionally stop there to refuel.  These birds include:

• Least Sandpiper
• Semi-palmated Plover
• Hudsonian Godwit

West end of Ottawa off Slack road are white sand dunes that are a rare habitat for white tiger beetles called Ghost Riger Beetle.

Many plants and animals found in the Boreal forest reach their southern range limits in Algonquin park.

• Black-backed Woodpecker
• Boreal Chickadees
• Spruce Grouse
• Gray Jay's found in Red Pine trees
• Great Gray Owls nest in Algonquin
• Martens
• Moose

In the Spring when the water of most lakes in Algonquin Park warm up to 4 degrees C, the water is at its densest (heaviest) so it begins to sink.  The winds create a current that causes the water from the bottom to move to the top and the water on the top goes to the bottom of the lake. In the Summer, the lake separates into two distinct bodies of water, a warm upper lake and a cold lower lake. sometime there can be as much as 15 degrees difference.

Tiny fish that live deep down in the waters of glacial lakes  and are considered glacial relicts.

Broken rock found in the Barron Canyon with lichen growing on them.  Poison Ivy is found there because of the calcium.

The middle layer of a lake involved in Spring and Fall turnover. Transition Zone.

Dominated by Trembling Aspen, White Birch, Red Pine, White Pine or Jack Pine. Red Oaks are also found on Eastside hilltops.

A poplar tree found in the Eastern side of Algonquin park and its leaves are food for

• Canadian Tiger Swallow Tail caterpillar
• Lunar Caterpillars
• Ruffed Grouse (buds)
• Beavers and porcupines (bark)

A fish also known as pickerel found in the Petawawa River. Minks and Otters love to eat them.

Water lilies and aquatic plant that grows in the shallow sheltered bays in ponds. They are habitat for bull frogs, Great Blue Herons and Moose come in to get the sodium from these aquatic plants.

Only found on the East side of Algonquin and are an endangered species. The wood turtle is the most terrestrial of al Ontario's turtles.

A bright orange coloured lichen found on the walls of the Barron Canyon. its presence is a sure sign of lime in the rock.  This is a subarctic lichen (northern plant)

Biological diversity 

The total number and variety of living things, both flora and fauna found in the area

1. Temperature: Very cold up north, much warmer south

2. Precipitation: all kinds - snow, rain, hail

3. Soil Type 

4. Wind: wind moves materials; blowing dirt on top of snow; fuels fires 

5. Fire 

6. Different types of bedrock: made of different minerals; affects which plants and animals live where; minerals affect the nutrient supply and soil chemistry

• Flat and layered; contains calcium
• Example: Limestone 
• cut up into blocks 
• contains a lot of calcium and is relatively soft and basic in pH
• compressed from oceans 
• Sine Limestone is made from animals who's fossils remain, which are full of calcium

• plants who love calcium in the soil 
• Example: Poison ivy loves basic soil and calcium

• rocks are not layered and were formed from molten rock (magma) deep underground
• a lot of silica; hard and acidic; very durable; almost no nutrients released into the soil
• some igneous rocks were formed on top of the earth's surface
• Many rocks are pink such as granite (most common igenous rock)
• Bunchberry (a bush) thrives on acidic soil

• formed from existing rock 
• rock can be transformed by heat and pressure 
• retains the chemical characteristics of its parent rock, but changes in appearance 
• granite becomes gneiss; acidic and lacks calcium still
• limestone becomes marble 

• a change in elevation
• land is no longer flat 
• this provides more or less precipitation and sunlight
• relief creates microclimates 

Glacial Deposits

• lies on top of bedrock 
• the minerals/soil type that is left once the glacier moves on 
• the glacial "gifts" affect drainage and thus the plants that grown in an area 

• one of the most powerful forces in Ontario 
• moves and sorts material by weight 
• you can tell how beaches were formed by the type of water that flowed through the area 
• water can break down rock eventually 
• when water becomes ice, it is larger in volume and breaks apart rock 

Biological diversity 

The total number and variety of living things, both flora and fauna found in the area

1. Temperature: Very cold up north, much warmer south

2. Precipitation: all kinds - snow, rain, hail

3. Soil Type 

4. Wind: wind moves materials; blowing dirt on top of snow; fuels fires 

5. Fire 

6. Different types of bedrock: made of different minerals; affects which plants and animals live where; minerals affect the nutrient supply and soil chemistry

• Flat and layered; contains calcium
• Example: Limestone 
• cut up into blocks 
• contains a lot of calcium and is relatively soft and basic in pH
• compressed from oceans 
• Sine Limestone is made from animals who's fossils remain, which are full of calcium

• plants who love calcium in the soil 
• Example: Poison ivy loves basic soil and calcium

• rocks are not layered and were formed from molten rock (magma) deep underground
• a lot of silica; hard and acidic; very durable; almost no nutrients released into the soil
• some igneous rocks were formed on top of the earth's surface
• Many rocks are pink such as granite (most common igenous rock)
• Bunchberry (a bush) thrives on acidic soil

• formed from existing rock 
• rock can be transformed by heat and pressure 
• retains the chemical characteristics of its parent rock, but changes in appearance 
• granite becomes gneiss; acidic and lacks calcium still
• limestone becomes marble 

• a change in elevation
• land is no longer flat 
• this provides more or less precipitation and sunlight
• relief creates microclimates 

Glacial Deposits

• lies on top of bedrock 
• the minerals/soil type that is left once the glacier moves on 
• the glacial "gifts" affect drainage and thus the plants that grown in an area 

• one of the most powerful forces in Ontario 
• moves and sorts material by weight 
• you can tell how beaches were formed by the type of water that flowed through the area 
• water can break down rock eventually 
• when water becomes ice, it is larger in volume and breaks apart rock 

Scratches in the rock caused by water flowing across 

Usually from the centre, outwards

1. Biotic Factors:
• any living things affecting other living things
2. Abiotic Factors: 
• non-living things affecting the whole environment 

• a lot of water 
• very flat; poor drainage 
• frozen ground 
• glacial deposits 

• northern diving ducks 
• diver ducks have their legs placed back farther than normal ducks 
• habitat: freshwater tundra pools, ponds and lakes 

• numbers have tripled in the past 20 years 
• arrive in late spring to nest; none stay for the winter
• nesting timing depends on the state of the female when they arrive in the tundra 
• negative effects on the Tundra
• adding an extreme amount of nitrogen
• eating and destroying certain species of plants 

• very few herps live in the Tundra 
• no snakes, turtles or salamanders 
• only 2 types of frogs, both freeze tolerant: 

1. Boreal Chorus Frog 
2. Wood Frog 

• North of the height of land flows into Hudson Bay
• South of the height of land flows into the Atlantic Ocean

• Due to freshwater input, it has 1/3 salinity of oceans
• it freezes in the winter, creating many habitats for animals in the winter 

1. Eiders: sea ducks; nest in the Hudson Bay
2. Loons: have to deal with salt in water

- they have salt glands that remove the salt 

- around the eye area 

All aquatic birds are only present in the summer

• feed mostly on clam-like animals 
• suck them out of their shells 
• use their tusks to dig up the shellfish in the sand 
• no hair on their bodies; very uncommon in marine animals 
• turn pink in the summer because more blood is being pumped to the surface of the skin to lose heat 
• found off Cape Henrietta Maria

• most southern population of polar bears 
• they hunt seals on the ice in Hudson Bay 
• because of global warming, the polar bears are on land longer, and don't get as much food 
• they become weaker in the winter 
• have less babies
• and are travelling to Quebec in search of food, and are being killed 
• Coastal sand deposits form dunes that are important to the bears to give birth in 
• raised beach ridges are also important habitats, creating caverns and lie on the sides to protect from weather 

• plants that deal with salt 
• all halophytic plants have fleshy leaves for storing water and for protection 
• they also have salt glands 
• Example: Seaside Lungwort - Oysterleaf or Bluebells
• Example: Goosegrass

• Caused by isostatic rebound: receding water of the Tyrell Sea 
• very important; they are much drier and can be dug into 
• Example: Arctic Fox - dig dens to have cubs in

• a dozen species of artic-nesting sandpipers/plovers nest in Hudson Bay
• when the tide goes out, vast mudflats provide feeding sites for sandpipers and plovers
• vast majority of birds migrate because of freezing 
• Example: Semipalmated Plover 
• Example: Hudsonian Godwit

• helps keep the ground frozen 
• creates its own habitat called peatland 
• when growth is greater than decomposition, the moss layer gets thicker, creating its own form of "soil" 

• migrate from the boreal forest to the tundra in late spring 
• small tails, short legs, small ears 
• both sexes bear antlers, unusual in the deer family
• biggest herbivore in the tundra 
• predators: 
• timber wolf / gray wolf 
• they couldn't kill a caribou alone, they are pack animals 

• they nest nowhere else in Ontario but the Tundra Zone
• Example: Longspurs - very long toenails for scratching trees and seeds 
• Example: Snow Buntings - most songbirds sing from treetops, but there are no trees in the Tundra; they have to fly around and sing

• Willow Ptarmigan 
• stay year-round 
• in the winter they are pure white 
• feathered feet and toes for warmth 

1. Cold temperatures 
2. Wind 
3. Short growing season - less than 140 days 
4. Not many nutrients in soil/ground
5. Frozen ground
6. Permafrost - the ground never thaws completely