Near Clyde River, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada Photograph by Biz Agnew/WWF   Northern North America: Baffin Island in Northern Canada Tundra   3,500 square miles (9,100 square kilometers) -- about as big as twice of Delaware Relatively Stable/Intact

· Cold Coastal Plain
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Cold Coastal Plain

This small ecoregion is found only on the central north coast of Baffin Island, a coastal plain. The area has sparse vegetation composed of mosses and low-growing herbaceous plants and shrubs, including purple saxifrage, arctic willow, sedges, and arctic poppy. Approximately 60 percent of wetter areas are covered with wood rush, wire rush, saxifrage, and mosses.

Special Features

The coastline is highly indented by the many fjords that extend out from the Davis Highlands. The fjords are arms of the sea that flow into valleys long ago carved out by glaciers.

	Snow buntings are sparrow-sized birds that breed in this ecoregion and then migrate to Southern Canada and the northern United States. During the breeding season, male snow buntings' feathers lose their brown color, leaving a distinctive black back and white head and breast.

Wild Side

Polar bears are common in the coastal areas that make up the majority of this ecoregion. Other mammals that live here include arctic hares, arctic foxes, lemmings, and caribou. Birds of the ecoregion include king eiders, rock ptarmigans, northern fulmars, hoary redpolls, and snow buntings.

Cause for Concern

This ecoregion is one of the very few that remains virtually intact. Possible future threats include the risk of oil spills in coastal areas and atmospheric fallout resulting in heavy metal and pesticide pollution. Global warming is increasingly affecting this ecoregion.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.