The Prairies Ecozone is a Canadian terrestrial ecozone which spans the southern areas of the Prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. It is a productive agriculture area, and is commonly referred to as "Canada's breadbasket".
Geography
Following Alberta's border with
British Columbia, this ecozone is adjacent to the Montane Cordillera on the west. The two zones are bifurcated by the
Boreal Plains about 70 kilometres southwest of Calgary, which also wraps around the remaining extent of the zone north of the
United States border toward the Red River Valley. It is part of the
Interior Plains, the Canadian extension of the
Great Plains, and covers approximately 520,000 square kilometres of land and water.
Establishment of the agricultural industry has had a significant effect on the land, which now retains "little of the natural vegetation"
The ecozone transformed into a relatively treeless grassland following the last glacial retreat from 11,000 to 8,000 years ago.
Ecoprovinces
This ecozone can be further subdivided into three ecoprovinces:
Climate
Because of its location east of the
Rocky Mountains, the Prairies ecozone can be semi-arid in some areas, annual precipitation generally increases farther east in the ecozone from in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to in parts of Manitoba, as well humidity increases eastward through this zone.
Winters are cold, due to the lack of a major body of water, and summers are warm, means can very and tend to be colder eastward due to the lack of a major body of water, and warmer in summer. Winters averages around , and summers around .
Demographics
Despite the predominance of
farming, less than 10% of the population is involved in agriculture. It is a highly urbanized area, with all major population centres of these provinces located in this ecozone. These include
Edmonton,
Calgary, Regina,
Saskatoon and
Winnipeg, as well as Brandon,
Moose Jaw, Red Deer and
Lethbridge. Nearly 80% of the region's four million human inhabitants live in these and other urban areas.
Conservation
A number of
have been established to protect representative and/or significant portions of this ecozone. These include Elk Island National Park, Grasslands National Park, and Turtle Mountain Provincial Park.
See also
-
Northern short grasslands
