the fish biodiversity in Saskatchewan. The bigmouth buffalo, a fish species restricted only to the Qu'Appelle River watershed, is under federal protection as it is at risk of becoming extinct due to habitat loss. The Water Security Agency speculates that dams and structures that control water have caused the degradation of spawning habitats for bigmouth buffalo due to the alteration of the natural flow of lakes and river systems. The Water Security Agency states that the highest threat to the bigmouth buffalo population is demand of water used for agricultural, commercial, and domestic purposes. The brown bullhead, channel catfish, chestnut lamprey, and rock bass, are some other uncommon fish that are found in the valley. The rock bass are Saskatchewan's only native bass. Other fish species found in the river's and lakes of the Qu'Appelle Watershed include walleye, sauger, yellow perch, northern pike, lake whitefish, cisco, mooneye, white sucker, shorthead redhorse, common carp, black bullhead, burbot, and chub. Terrestrial species Bird species in the valley include the wood duck, eastern wood-pewee, lazuli bunting, and indigo bunting. Painted and snapping turtles can be found in the river and drainage systems that enter it. Some eastern animals found in the valley include the eastern grey squirrel, red belly snake, and smooth green snake. This area is also home to around 30 endangered animal species including loggerhead shrike, and the northern leopard frog. Air and atmospheric conditions Climatic characteristics that are common to the grasslands ecosystems are: high evaporation rates, droughts, low precipitation, and high summer temperatures. This moist-mixed grassland biome has a sub-humid continental climate. As such, it is generally dry, sunny, and has extreme temperatures in summer and winter. The mean annual precipitation is . Between 1981 and 2010, the mean temperature for January was and the mean temperature for July was . Soil and terrain The soil surface texture varies from loamy sand to loam and is low to moderately sensitive to compaction. The more compaction, the less the soil is capable of supporting plant growth. Because of the short warm season and long, cold winters, vegetation routinely dies and decomposers do not have adequate time to breakdown all the material. As a result, the groundcover of litter is built up. A large quantity of nutrients is stored in this litter as opposed to in the soil as it takes three to four years to be broken down in the