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— test your knowledge of Canada and its fauna — |
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| General information and editorial notes News and Notes Canadian Spider Diversity and Systematics List of Requests for Material or Information Required for Studies of the Canadian Fauna 1999 |
1. What are the main differences between the
continental climates of the Canadian interior and the oceanic climates of the coasts? answer 2. What is the difference between barrens and badlands in
Canada? 3. Why are rocks in northern streams important to insects? 4. Many species of insects that feed on the cones of evergreen trees have
diapauses that last for more than one year, an adaptation presumed to respond to the fact
that cone production is widely variable from year to year. Name five families of insects
that include cone-feeding species with prolonged diapause. 5. What do the following abbreviations of relevance to Canada or its environment or
fauna stand for?
Answers to Faunal Quiz 1. What are the main differences between the continental climates of the Canadian interior and the oceanic climates of the coasts? Answer: Climates at the centre of the continent have hot summers (e.g. 19°C daily mean in July for Saskatoon, SK) and very cold winters (–18°C in January). Climates there also tend to be relatively dry (35 cm annual precipitation for Saskatoon), especially closer to the Cordillera. Coastal climates, ameliorated by the nearby ocean, have much less difference between the coldest and warmest months (e.g. 15°C and –4°C for St. John’s, NF; annual precipitation 155 cm). 2. What is the difference between barrens and badlands in Canada? Answer: Barrens are areas relatively barren of vegetation in comparison with adjacent areas because of adverse soil or climatic conditions or other adverse environmental factors, for example sand barrens, rock barrens and extensive arctic barrens in northern Canada. Badlands are regions nearly devoid of vegetation where erosion, instead of carving hills and valleys of the ordinary type, has cut the land into an intricate maze of narrow ravines and sharp crests and pinnacles, as in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan. 3. Why are rocks in northern streams important to insects? Answer: Rocks in northern streams affect the often rapid flow and thereby provide both habitats and food for insects. For example, some species shelter under rocks (e.g. some mayflies), and others cling to them in areas of suitable flow (e.g. blackflies). Several species use disturbed flow patterns (e.g. eddies) to acquire food from the current, and others scrape periphyton from rock surfaces. 4. Many species of insects that feed on the cones of evergreen trees have diapauses that last for more than one year, an adaptation presumed to respond to the fact that cone production is widely variable from year to year. Name five families of insects that include cone-feeding species with prolonged diapause. answer: Families of insects that include cone-feeding species with prolonged diapause include Scolytidae (Coleoptera), Anthomyiidae, Cecidomyiidae, and Lonchaeidae (Diptera), Tortricidae and Yponomeutidae (Lepidoptera), and Torymidae (Hymenoptera) [see for example Insect Dormancy 1987, table 27] 5. What do the following abbreviations of relevance to Canada or
its environment or fauna stand for? answer: The listed abbreviations stand for the following:
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