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Land Cover
Global land cover maps at 1 and 8 km resolution were obtained from satelite data. Remote sensing was used to show land cover changes at global and USA levels. The latter includes the sourthern part of Canada. Global and North American population as well as crop concentration maps are also part of this set. The Canadian Land Inventory provides maps of agricultural, forest, recreational and wildlife (ungulates and waterfowl) lands. The digital data base included at its peak over 30,000 maps at scales varying from 1:250,000 to 1: 50,000. Available maps can be obtain from Geogratis (Requirement: flash software) at no cost.
A forest distribution map for Ontario summaries the 15 most common trees found in this province, for example white pine, black spruce, red pine, etc. For southern Ontario there are two maps of the Carolinean forests, one showing its original extent before European settlement and the other showing the remains at the present (in 1995). The extent of wetlands lost in southern Ontario since 1800 to 1992 combined with Corn Heating Degrees (CHU) is also shown. Canadian ecozones, ecoregions, ecoprovinces and ecodistricts are part of this set as well as a soil quality maps for southern Ontario.
Land cover 1km Global Land Cover Map (237 KB jpg image) sml ver. (40 KB jpg image) Derived from AVHRR- Goode's Projection
Source: Hansen, M.C., DeFries, R.S., Townshend, J.R.G., and Sohlberg, R.1984. Global land cover classification at 1km spatial resolution using a classification tree approach, International Journal of Remote Sensing (in press). Department of Geography, University of Maryland, USA. -- http://www.geog.umd.edu/landcover/1km-map/browse-latlon.jpeg
Land Cover 8km (1,156 KB jpg image) small version (54 KB jpg image)
Source: as above Hansen et al. (1984) - http://www.geog.umd.edu/landcover/8km-map/p7fullres.htmlLand cover area 1x1 degree (6 KB gif image)
Source: Land Cover and Remote Sensing - The Department of Geography -University of Maryland, USA. Phenological differences among vegetation types, reflected in temporal variations in NDVI derived from satellite data, have been used to classify land cover at continental scales. This study explored methodologies for extending this concept to a global scale. A coarse resolution (one by one degree) data set of monthly NDVI values for 1987 (Los, et al. 1994, Sellers, et al. 1994, 1995b) was used as the basis for a supervised classification of eleven cover types that broadly represent the major biomes of the world. http://www.geog.umd.edu/landcover/1d-map/1d-map.gif
Canadian land cover at 1 km resolution (88 KB jpg image) Map produced from AVHRR remote sensing data
Source: Ratté, Dominique. 2000. Per. Comm. Spatial Information Analyst, Pollution Data Branch, Environment Canada, Mar, 8th.
Global Land Cover Changes (185 KB jpg image) small version (45 jpg image)
This map shows changes in the global land cover due to anthropogenic processes (Nemani and Runnig, 1995). With a resolution of 0.5 x 0.5 degrees and using Leaf Area Index (LAI) (area of leaves per unit ground area) the map shows areas where agriculture and human settlements have decreased the LAI such as in South East Asia, Africa, Madagascar, India and Western Europe. Because this map is based in a large scale, it only provides a rough estimate useful for carbon and climate models. Nevertheless, the authors conclude that spatial heterogeneity in heat fluxes has increased from pre-agricultural times. This is because crops replacing forest is more predominant than irrigated agriculture in arid and semi-arid-areas. Furthermore, the local and regional changes are not well represented in current coarse resolution General Circulation Models (GCM).
Land Cover Classes Using Remote Sense Data and Classification Rules for the USA and Southern Canada (189 KB jpg image) small version (78 KB jpg image)
Source: Nemani, Ramakrishna R. and Steven W. Running. 1995. Satellite Monitoring of Global Land Cover Changes and their Impact on Climate. Climatic Change31: 395-413
Map Global population concentrations (66 KB jpg image)
Source: Canadian Global Emissions Interpretation Centre
Map of North American population concentrations (78 KB jpg image)
Source: Canadian Global Emissions Interpretation Centre
Map Global Crop Concentration (81 KB jpg image)
Source: Canadian Global Emissions Interpretation Centre (CGEIC)
The CGEIC operates under a joint effort between Environment Canada and Canadian ORTECH Environmental in order to serve both the national and international scientific and policy-making communities. More information about this organizacion can be found in CGEIC.
Forest distribution in Ontario (19 KB gif image)
Source: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (1998). For information on area, volume, an age class distribution graph, and a distribution map (small) visit their site.
Map of southern Ontario's Carolinean forest before European settlement (280 KB jpg image) sml ver. (44 KB jpg image)
Source: Adapted from Macoun (1894) and and various Crown Survey records. Estimation of forect cover of the Canadian Carolinean region prior to European settlement. Township surveys were conducted between 1798 and 1850. Forests (hardwood dominated forests, pine stands, hardwood dominated swamps, and coniferous dominated swamps) covered > 90% of the total land area if the region.
Map of southern Ontario's remains of Carolinean forest in 1995 (157 KB jpg image) sml ver. (48 KB jpg image)
Source for Land-use Mapping: Ministry of Natural Resources, 1995.
Map of southern Ontario's original wetlands (54 KB jpg image)
Loss of original wetland area from 1800 to 1992 and 2800 Corn Heat Units (Reference: Watson and MacIver, 1995).
Data source: National Wetlands Working Group, 1988. Wetlands of Canada (chapter 6). Rubec, C. and Harrison G. (eds.), Ecological Land Classification Series, No. 24. Environment Canada and Polyscience Publications Inc. Montreal, Quebec, 452 pp.
Ecological Framework for Canada (82 KB jpg image)
Source: EMAN
Ecoregions of the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone (48 KB jpg image)
Source: EMAN
Ecoprovinces of Central Canada (40 KB jpg image)
Source: EMANEcodistricts of South Central Ontario (68 KB jpg image)
Source: EMAN
Ecosections of the Grand River Conservation Authority (47 KB jpg image)
Source: Grand River Conservation Authority
Soil Quality Rating (ISQ and SQS) for Southern Ontario (51 KB jpg image)
Source: Tomlin, A. D. and G. J. Umphrey. 1996. Assessment of Species Diversity in the Mixedwood Plains Ecozone, Ed. I.M. Smith, Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network (CD-ROM).
Macoun, M.A. 1894. The Forest of Canada and their distribution with notes on the more interesting species. Transcripts Royal Society of Canada (12): 3-20 pp