Habitats for migratory birds - Lake St. François, Lake St. Louis, Richelieu River (downstream), St. Lawrence River (between Pointe-aux-Trembles and Lake St. Pierre), Lake St. Pierre, Gentilly, Orléans Island, Côte-de-Beaupré, Côte-du-Sud

The subjects of this study – the St. Lawrence (river, estuary and gulf) and the Ottawa and Richelieu rivers – present a range of natural shoreline habitats that are conducive to the flourishing of avian, aquatic and terrestrial fauna. Avian fauna, particularly migratory birds, use wetlands as feeding and resting areas. These wetlands develop primarily in bays that are sheltered from currents and their flora varies depending on water salinity and the presence or absence of tides.


In the lowlands of the St. Lawrence, which are washed by fresh and brackish waters, wetlands contain submerged and emergent aquatic plants in areas unaffected by tidal action and are dominated by the American bulrush in areas where tidal variations uncover muddy sediments. They develop particularly well in areas where water in shallow, as in the bays of the Ottawa River, the shores of the Richelieu, and in the lakes, bays and island shores of the St. Lawrence.


In salt water, they can be found in the fine deposits in the high areas of coves, bays and river mouths sheltered from violent seas. In the St. Lawrence estuary, low wetlands are dominated by Spartina alterniflora communities, while higher wetlands are characterized by the presence of Spartina patens and other halophyte communities. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, wetland herbaceous species form mosaics of alternating halophyte communities.


Photographic interpretation and mapping (1:20,000) of the shorelines of these waterways provide a means of locating wetlands, determining their size, and identifying disturbances of human origin. The results show that there are 39,000 hectares of these wetlands (submerged and emergent plants) in tideless freshwaters and approximately 3,900 hectares of herbaceous communities dominated by the American bulrush in tidal freshwaters. Identified saltwater wetlands represent a total of 9,000 hectares, 4,000 of which are found in the St. Lawrence estuary, 2,400 of which are distributed sporadically along the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Gaspé Peninsula, and 2,200 of which are located in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine.


Finally, an analysis of “control sectors” (La Prairie Basins, Gentilly and Kamouraska) along the St. Lawrence shows that the impact of major human interventions on the shorelines of these waterways has increased significantly over the past 30 years.

Basic view

Metadata Record Information

File Identifier
4ce694fd-de5f-4ffe-83b3-3d781da3ef50 XML
Date Stamp
2022-06-29T18:26:09
Metadata language

fra; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Hierarchy Level
Series
Author
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Environment and Climate Change Canada ( Inquiry Centre )
Fontaine Building 12th floor, 200 Sacré-Coeur Blvd , Gatineau , Quebec , K1A 0H3 , Canada
1-800-668-6767
http://ec.gc.ca
 

Data identification

Date (Creation)
1980-04-01
Date (Publication)
2015-11-25
Status
Completed
Metadata language

fra; CAN
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Imagery base maps earth cover
Maintenance and Update Frequency
Not planned
Spatial representation type
Text, table
Point of contact
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada; Canadian Wildlife Service - Quebec Region - Diane Dauphin ( Habitat Biologist )
801-1550, D'Estimauville Avenue , Québec , Quebec , G1J 0C3 , Canada
(418) 648-3474
(418) 649-6591
http://ec.gc.ca/
Hours of Service

8:30am - 4:30pm

Keywords

Theme

  • Migratory birds

  • Wetland

  • American bulrush

  • Spartina

  • Orleans

  • St. François

  • St. Louis

  • Gentilly

  • St. Pierre

  • Côte-de-Beaupré

  • Côte-du-Sud
Place

  • St. Lawrence

  • Richelieu

  • Quebec

ECCC Information Category EN

  • Nature and Biodiversity - Habitat

Geography

  • Quebec (QC)

Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus

  • Wetlands

Business Functions

  • Oversee and Manage Site Conditions

  • Expand Scientific Knowledge / Develop New Methodologies for Assessing Site Conditions

Branch

  • Environmental Stewardship Branch

Directorate

  • Canadian Wildlife Service

GC Security Level

  • Unclassified

local.theme.EC_Content_Scope

  • Location
 
Use Limitation

Open Government Licence - Canada ( http://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada )

Access Constraints
License
Use Constraints
License
Begin Date
1980-04-01

Extent

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


 
 

Ref. system Reference Systems

Reference system identifier
http://www.epsg-registry.org / EPSG:4326 /
 

Distribution

Distribution Formats

Distribution format
  • SHP ( N/A )

 
Distributor
  Government of Canada; Environment and Climate Change Canada - Environment and Climate Change Canada ( Inquiry Centre )
10 Wellington, 23rd Floor , Gatineau , Quebec , K1A 0H3 , Canada
1-800-668-6767
http://ec.gc.ca
 
 

Overviews

N
S
E
W
thumbnail


Keywords

American bulrush Côte-de-Beaupré Côte-du-Sud Gentilly Migratory birds Orleans Quebec Richelieu Spartina St. François St. Lawrence St. Louis St. Pierre Wetland
Branch
Environmental Stewardship Branch
Business Functions
Expand Scientific Knowledge / Develop New Methodologies for Assessing Site Conditions Oversee and Manage Site Conditions
Directorate
Canadian Wildlife Service
ECCC Information Category EN
Nature and Biodiversity - Habitat
GC Security Level
Unclassified
Government of Canada Core Subject Thesaurus
Wetlands
local.theme.EC_Content_Scope
Location

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