Increased winter precipitation means snow packs will increase, threatening animals such as deer and elk. Deeper snow will make it more difficult for them to find food and force them to migrate down to the valleys where they are at a greater risk of dying from car and train collisions. Record low water levels in the Great Lakes could cause the wetland marshes in Ontario's Point Pelee National Park to dry out, threatening rare species such as the rose swamp mallow and spotted turtles. Nesting sites for waterfowl will become more accessible to predators. For many of the plants and animals living in these parks, life is a delicate balance.
Serious threats face almost all of Canada's national parks.
Many plant and animal species living in national parks could face extinction because climate change may outpace their ability to adapt to changing temperatures and weather conditions. Canada's Arctic is likely to experience the most extreme changes, affecting food availability, migration patterns and the habitat of Arctic wildlife such as polar bears, seals and caribou. The habitat of migratory shorebirds in Atlantic parks, including the endangered piping plover, may be threatened as sea levels rise and tidal flats shrink in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. A wetland of international significance, the Peace-Athabasca Delta in Alberta's Wood Buffalo National Park, which contains the world's only natural breeding ground for the endangered whooping crane, is at risk. Rising temperatures may lead to greater rates of evaporation, drier soils and more drought in Prairie parks, affecting fish, waterfowl and wildlife.