- Balkan mixed forests
The Balkan mixed forests constitute a terrestrial
ecoregion ofEurope according to both the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by theEuropean Environment Agency . It belongs to thebiome oftemperate broadleaf and mixed forests and thePalearctic ecozone .The Balkan mixed forests cover much of the valleys, plains and mountain slopes of the eastern
Balkans on different altitudes (except higher parts of the Rhodope andBalkan Mountains , where they are substituted by theRodope montane mixed forests ), extend from approximately theDrina valley to the coasts of the Black, Marmara andAegean Sea s and occupy 224,400 km² (86,600 sq. mi) inTurkey ,Greece , theRepublic of Macedonia ,Bulgaria ,Romania ,Kosovo andSerbia . The ecoregion is surrounded by theEuxine-Colchic deciduous forests (in Turkey, Georgia and Bulgaria),Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests (in Greece),Pindus Mountains mixed forests (in Greece, the Republic of Macedonia andAlbania ),Dinaric Mountains mixed forests (inMontenegro andBosnia and Herzegovina ),Pannonian mixed forests (in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Romania),Carpathian montane conifer forests ,Central European mixed forests (both in Romania), as well as theEast European forest steppe andPontic steppe (both situated in Romania and Bulgaria).The climate of the ecoregion is mostly of Köppen's humid subtropical (Cfa) to humid warm summer continental (Dfb) type, with wet winters. Several species of deciduous
oak s (most prominently "Quercus frainetto " Ten., as well as "Q. cerris" L., "Q. pubescens" Willd. and others) dominate most of the ecoregion's forests, interspersed higher up mountainsides (above 800-1200 m) mostly withEuropean Beech and such conifers asScots Pine ,Macedonian Pine ,Silver Fir andNorway Spruce . The highest peaks supportalpine tundra vegetation.Phytogeographically, the ecoregion is shared between parts of the Central European, Illyrian and Euxinian provinces of the
Circumboreal Region within theHolarctic Kingdom (according toArmen Takhtajan 's delineation).External links
* [http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/pa/pa0404_full.html Balkan mixed forests (PA0404)] , World Wildlife Fund, 2001.
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