Northeast Swale Observations

 

Time/Date: 12:45 pm 12/10/2023

Seasonality: Winter

Conditions: Blue sky and sunny

Temperature: -4 Celsius

Coordinates: 52.1760° N, 106.5750° W

The area I selected is a unique piece of landscape called the Northeast Swale, located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. This landscape is a 12,000-year-old ancient river channel with post-glacial scars, harbouring native prairie grasslands, rough fescues, rocky knolls, wetlands, marshes, riparian forests and rocky slopes. This grassland ecosystem has high biodiversity containing abundant plant species, avians, mammals, amphibians, reptiles and insects. The total area of the Northeast Swale is 3.19 km2 adjacent to urban neighborhoods.

Questions:

1/ How does the species richness change between the summer and winter months? Does non-migratory wildlife change their activities during these different months?

2/ Can the amount of snowfall affect vegetation, wildlife activity and the ecological health of the Northeast swale? If so, how?

3/Can the adjacent urban neighbourhoods affect the ecosystem of the Northeast  Swale?

3 thoughts to “Northeast Swale Observations”

  1. Can you double check if Nancy is your OL instructor instead of me? I don’t see you in my course list. Is your name the same as in Moodle?

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