Environmental Thematic Maps and Graphics:
Human landscape modification index, 2011
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Description for Map
The title of this map is “Human landscape modification index, 2011.” This map provides a visual representation of the degree to which land in Canada has been modified from its natural state due to human activity as of the year 2011. The human landscape modification index (HLMI) is based on land use, natural and semi-natural patch size and linear feature density. Higher HLMI scores indicate a higher degree of modification from the natural ecosystem state, while lower HLMI scores indicate lower rates of modification.
On the page, there is one large map of Canada, a legend to the upper right and a scale bar below. The map delineates ecoprovinces with a thin black boundary line and ecoprovinces are labeled with a code. Below the map, ecoprovince codes and their corresponding names are listed for reference.
The map shows the degree of human modification through a colour gradient. The legend has a colour gradient from red to green, where red is most modified and green is least modified.
The map shows the highest HLMI scores are in southern Ontario and Quebec and the southern Prairie provinces, where grassland, wetland and forest ecosystems have been converted to agroecosystems and urban centres and where there is more landscape fragmentation. The lowest HLMI scores are found in the North, since much of the landscape remains intact with few direct modifications.
Notes: The human landscape modification index (HLMI) is a composite index used to measure direct human modifications to the landscape based on the degree that an area has been modified from a natural or semi-natural state. Values range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more intensively-used ecosystems.
Sources:
Statistics Canada, Environment and Energy Statistics Division, 2021, special tabulation based on Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), 2015, Land Use, 2010, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/18e3ef1a-497c-40c6-8326-aac1a34a0dec (accessed June 1, 2020);
Natural Resources Canada, 2017, Topographic Data of Canada - CanVec Series, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/8ba2aa2a-7bb9-4448-b4d7-f164409fe056 (accessed December 21, 2020);
Statistics Canada, 2017, Road Network File, 2016, https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/catalogue/92-500-X (accessed December 21, 2020);
AAFC, 2016, Interpolated Census of Agriculture, https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/1dee8513-5c73-43b6-9446-25f7b985cd00 (accessed December 3, 2020);
Guindon, L., et al., 2017, Canada Landsat Disturbance (CanLaD): a Canada-wide Landsat-based 30-m resolution product of fire and harvest detection and attribution since 1984, https://doi.org/10.23687/add1346b-f632-4eb9-a83d-a662b38655ad (accessed July 20, 2020);
data files downloaded from https://opendata.nfis.org/mapserver/nfis-change_eng.html (accessed July 20, 2020).
| Colour | HLMI score |
|---|---|
| Red | 100 (most modified) |
| Orange | 50 |
| Green | 0 (Least modified) |
| Shape | Boundary |
| Dashed line | Province/territory |
| Black outline | Ecoprovince |
| Blue | Water bodies |
| Ecoprovince | Code | Human landscape modification index, 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| Score (0 to 100) | ||
| Northern Arctic Cordillera | 1.1 | 0.0 |
| Southern Arctic Cordillera | 1.2 | 0.2 |
| Sverdrup Islands | 2.1 | 0.5 |
| Ellesmere Basin | 2.2 | 0.3 |
| Victoria Lowlands | 2.3 | 0.2 |
| Parry Channel Plateau | 2.4 | 0.2 |
| Boothia–Foxe Shield | 2.5 | 0.2 |
| Baffin Uplands | 2.6 | 0.2 |
| Foxe–Boothia Lowlands | 2.7 | 0.3 |
| Amundsen Lowlands | 3.1 | 1.1 |
| Keewatin Lowlands | 3.2 | 0.1 |
| Ungava–Belcher | 3.3 | 0.1 |
| Mackenzie Foothills | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Great Bear Lowlands | 4.2 | 5.1 |
| Hay–Slave Lowlands | 4.3 | 6.2 |
| Western Taiga Shield | 5.1 | 0.7 |
| Eastern Taiga | 5.2 | 0.9 |
| Labrador Uplands | 5.3 | 1.3 |
| Whale River Lowland | 5.4 | 0.2 |
| Western Boreal Shield | 6.1 | 3.5 |
| Mid-Boreal Shield | 6.2 | 8.1 |
| Eastern Boreal Shield | 6.3 | 4.8 |
| Newfoundland | 6.4 | 11.6 |
| Lake of the Woods | 6.5 | 14.9 |
| Southern Boreal Shield | 6.6 | 15.5 |
| Appalachian–Acadian Highlands | 7.1 | 20.5 |
| Northumberland Lowlands | 7.2 | 23.8 |
| Fundy Uplands | 7.3 | 21.1 |
| Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands | 8.1 | 43.8 |
| Huron–Erie Plains | 8.2 | 57.2 |
| Boreal Foothills | 9.1 | 15.0 |
| Central Boreal Plains | 9.2 | 19.2 |
| Eastern Boreal Plains | 9.3 | 12.0 |
| Eastern Prairies | 10.1 | 43.5 |
| Parkland Prairies | 10.2 | 50.5 |
| Central Grassland | 10.3 | 53.3 |
| Northern Yukon Mountains | 11.1 | 1.9 |
| Old Crow–Eagle Plains | 11.2 | 5.0 |
| Ogilvie Mountains | 11.3 | 6.1 |
| Mackenzie–Selwyn Mountains | 11.4 | 2.2 |
| Wrangel Mountains | 12.1 | 1.3 |
| Northern Boreal Cordillera | 12.2 | 5.6 |
| Southern Boreal Cordillera | 12.3 | 3.2 |
| Western Boreal Cordillera | 12.4 | 6.7 |
| Georgia Depression | 13.1 | 26.4 |
| Southern Coastal Mountains | 13.2 | 8.9 |
| Northern Coastal Mountains | 13.3 | 1.9 |
| Northern Montane Cordillera | 14.1 | 8.8 |
| Central Montane Cordillera | 14.2 | 14.2 |
| Southern Montane Cordillera | 14.3 | 18.7 |
| Columbia Montane Cordillera | 14.4 | 11.7 |
| Hudson Bay Coastal Plains | 15.1 | 0.7 |
| Hudson–James Lowlands | 15.2 | 0.8 |
| Note: The map displays HLMI at the pixel level. This data table summarizes the index by ecoprovince. | ||
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