Data set covers metrics and metadata related to wild collected copepods Calanus spp. (C. hyperboreus, C. glacialis, C. finmarchicus) and Metridia longa: - body size in prosome length [PL]- dry weight [DW]- lipid content (oil sac area [OSA] and oil sac volume [OSV])Spatial coverage: North Atlantic sampling sites- Scotian Shelf (SS)- Gulf of Saint Lawrence (GSL)- Gulf of Maine-Georges Bank-Nantucket Shoals (GoM)- Newfoundland shelf (NFL)Cite this data as: Helenius LK, Head EJH, Jekielek P, Orphanides CD, Pepin P, Plourde S, Ringuette M, Walsh HJ, Runge JA, Johnson CL. Calanus spp. size and lipid content metrics in North Atlantic, 1977-2019. Published September 2022. Ocean Ecosystem Science Division, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Dartmouth, N.S. https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/72e6d3a1-06e7-4f41-acec-e0f1474b555b

The United States population of California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus) range from southeast Alaska to the Pacific coast of central Mexico. While this population does not breed in Canada, some sub-adult and adult males migrate northwards to British Columbia (BC) during the non-breeding season with an arrival in August–October and a departure in April–May. The population in coastal BC was assessed in 1985 and again in 2023 from dedicated over-winter aerial surveys. The most recent assessment used counts from 2020–2021surveys that were restricted to southern BC as few animals have been documented further north. Additional observations of California Sea Lions were collected while surveying sites for Steller Sea Lions. These opportunistic counts increased from approximately 1,000 animals in the mid-2000s to several thousand individuals in more recent years. Historically occupied sea lion rookeries and haul-out sites were surveyed with nearby areas monitored for potential shifts in distribution. This dataset contains counts that have been collected from sightings of individuals from 1971 through 2021and replaces a previous dataset limited to the 2016/2017 survey season.

The Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) is the largest species of sea lion with males weighing as much as 1,100 kg and females as much as 350 kg. In Canada, the Steller can be spotted along the rocky coast of British Columbia (BC). These highly mobile marine mammals typically travel alone or in small groups, but they congregate in large numbers at traditional rookeries and haul-outs during the mating and pupping season. Females generally live longer (up to 30 years) than males (usually up to 20 years). The population was severely depleted in Canada but following its protection in 1970, the size of the adult population has more than doubled.Trends in the abundance of Steller sea lions in BC have been assessed based on a series of standardized, province-wide aerial surveys conducted during the breeding season (27-June to 06-July) between 1971 and 2021. Additional ad-hoc surveys during the fall, winter, and spring periods were completed to assess sea lion distribution outside of the breeding season. Surveys targeted historically occupied rookeries and haul-out sites with nearby areas also monitored for potential shifts in distribution.Both datasets contain counts that have been collected from sightings of individuals from 1971 through 2021. The updated standard breeding season survey counts data file consolidates and extends two previous datasets – one covering 1971 through 2013 and the other covering the summer portion of the 2016/2017 surveys. The non-breeding season count data was previously limited to the fall-winter portion of the 2016/2017 surveys and the updated data covers the entire study period to date.

This dataset is a collaborative project by Natural Resources Canada and the federal, provincial and territorial members of the Geographical Names Board of Canada, illustrating a curated selection of official geographical names in Canada that have changed over time. The selection comes from the Canadian Geographical Names Database, displaying additional information including the previous name(s) of each feature, the year and the reason why the names changed along with a short history of each name change.

Seamounts have been identified as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) due to their unique oceanography and ecology; they frequently serve as sites for fisheries and as habitat for a number of species of conservation concern. A mix of isolated seamounts and seamount complexes are distributed throughout Canada’s Pacific offshore waters, although only a subset of these are named. We used several pre-existing spatial databases and predictive models to map all named seamounts within Canada’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), all named seamounts fished by Canada in international waters, and any predicted (modelled) unnamed seamounts in the EEZ. These data are intended to inform marine planning initiatives in BC by providing collaborative, peer-reviewed scientific data at scales relevant to a BC coast-wide analysis.

This dataset provides the results obtained by Health Canada’s Radiological Monitoring Network (CRMN) for tritium content in atmospheric water vapor sampled from monitoring stations in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. More information about the CRMN network can be found on the Health Canada website (see link below). The results provided are for tritium activity concentration, expressed in units of becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m3). Atmospheric water is sampled monthly for determination of tritium content. The majority of such monitoring activity occurs in close proximity to nuclear power plants. Until 1996, Health Canada monitored the areas near Darlington, Bruce and Pickering in Ontario, Gentilly in Quebec, and Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. In 1996, Health Canada’s monitoring of the Ontario stations was terminated to avoid redundancy, since a similar initiative was underway through the Ontario Ministry of Labour. Currently, the CRMN monitors six sites in the vicinity of Point Lepreau, four sites in the vicinity of Gentilly, and a single site in the Greater Toronto Area. The average tritium concentration for the CRMN stations is 0.22 Bq/m3 for the time period from 2004 to 2013. This is consistent with results reported for other monitoring stations in close proximity to Canadian nuclear power stations, and the levels are considered to be safe from a health perspective. Note that the tritium values are measured using liquid scintillator measurements. This requires removing the background contribution from the measurement. The uncertainty associated with each measurement, can lead to reported values of less than zero. The map shows the approximate sampling location for each monitoring station. Stations are found within the associated location range.

In celebration of the tremendous diversity of tree species that tell the story of our culture and history, the NCC released in September 2020 a compilation of close to 170 remarkable trees across Canada’s Capital region entitled A Living Legacy: Remarkable Trees of Canada’s Capital. An interactive map and downloadable book are available for free on the NCC’s website and will allow the public to discover distinctive features of these trees, revealing a story of the beauty of our natural heritage through the rich diversity of species thriving within Canada’s Capital. This compilation features trees according to their commonalities, which can include their physical relationship with the land, the fact that they were a source of food for Indigenous peoples, or for their contribution to the forest industry.https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/remarkable-treeshttps://ncc-ccn.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=a9ba98fb7e8b4c2ba9be337235b95291

The raster maps depict a suite of forest attributes in 2001* and 2011 at 250 m by 250 m spatial resolution. The maps were produced using the k nearest neighbours method applied to MODIS imagery and trained from National Forest Inventory photo plot data. For detailed information about map production methods please refer to Beaudoin et al. (2018) "Tracking forest attributes across Canada between 2001 and 2011 using the k nearest neighbours mapping approach applied to MODIS imagery." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 48, 85-93. https://cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/publications?id=38979 The map datasets may be downloaded from https://nfi.nfis.org/downloads/nfi_knn2011.zip or https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/ec9e2659-1c29-4ddb-87a2-6aced147a990 * Note: the forest composition (leading tree genus) map depicts forest attributes in 2001.How can this data be used?The resolution and accuracy of these map products are best suited for strategic-level forest reporting and informing policy and decision making at regional to national scales. As these maps also offer a coherent set of quantitative values for a large suite of forest attributes, they can be used as baseline information for modelling and in calculations such as merchantable forest volume or percentage of tree species. It is also possible to overlay these maps with other maps produced on the same pixel grid to make assessments of disturbance impacts, such as fire and harvests.

PURPOSE:The focus of this research is on changes in the distribution of killer whales in the Canadian Arctic, which is within the field of marine biogeography and marine megafauna. Our research details change in killer whale presence and ties it to changes in sea ice coverage. These are novel results, presenting trends in the arrival and departure dates of killer whales into the eastern Canadian Arctic for the first time. We go on to discuss the impacts of these changes on other aspects of Arctic ecosystems and how increasing in killer whale presence might affect other species and the management of those species in Canada. Killer whales are a widespread species of interest, especially in the Canadian Arctic as their presence is tied to multiple aspects of a region rapidly changing from the effects of climate change. DESCRIPTION:This study examines 20 years of killer whale (Orcinus orca) sightings in the eastern Canadian Arctic, drawing from a comprehensive sighting database spanning 1850-2023. Despite inherent biases favoring data collection near communities and coastal areas, spatiotemporal analyses reveal significant shifts in killer whale distribution linked to changing sea ice conditions. We developed a clustering metric representing the mean distance to the five nearest sightings and results show that killer whales are progressively moving away from historically high-use areas and that sighting locations are becoming more dispersed over time. A significant year × sea ice interaction indicates observations occur earlier during their arrival period at lower sea ice concentrations over time, suggesting that declining sea iceconcentration contributes to earlier arrival. Conversely, for departure periods, killer whales are observed farther south later in the year, likely linked to earlier freeze-up at higher latitudes, and are overall observed later into the year over time. This trend has led to a near doubling of their average presence from 26 days in 2002 to 48 days in 2023 (27 July to 13 September) reflecting an extended open-water season. These findings underscore the prolonged seasonal use of Arctic regions by killer whales, driven by diminishing sea ice and expanding openwater habitat. Such shifts highlight potential implications for Arctic marine ecosystems as killer whales increasingly overlap with endemic species.

The dataset consists of maps detailing the boundaries of the designatable units for conservation considerations as defined by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) for species of Pacific Salmon in British Columbia and the Yukon. Designatable units represent geographical areas that support groups of individuals with a unique genetic heritage makes them discrete and evolutionarily significant units of the taxonomic species, where “significant” means that the unit is important to the evolutionary legacy of the species as a whole and if lost is unlikely to be replaced through natural dispersion.