The European bison or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent, the zubr, or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the American bison. The European bison is the heaviest wild land animal in Europe, and individuals in the past may have been even larger than their modern-day descendants. During late antiquity and the Middle Ages, bison became extinct in much of Europe and Asia, surviving into the 20th century only in northern-central Europe and the northern Caucasus Mountains. During the early years of the 20th century, bison were hunted to extinction in the wild.
Białowieża Forest is a large forest complex on the border between Poland and Belarus. It is one of the last and the largest remaining part of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more than 800 European bisons, Europe's heaviest land animal. UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve Białowieża in 1976 and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve Biełavieskaja pušča in 1993.
UNESCO Biosphere Reserves are environment-protected scientific-research institutions of international status that are created with the intent for conservation in a natural state the most typical natural complexes of biosphere, conducting background ecological monitoring, studying of the surrounding natural environment, its changes under the activity of anthropogenic factors.
The Western European broadleaf forests is an ecoregion in Western Europe, and parts of the Alps. It comprises temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, that cover large areas of France, Germany and the Czech Republic and more moderately sized parts of Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and South Limburg (Netherlands). Luxembourg is also part of this ecoregion.
The Caucasian wisent or dombay (домбай) was a subspecies of European bison that inhabited the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe.
The Caucasus mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Caucasus Mountains, as well as the adjacent Lesser Caucasus range and the eastern end of the Pontic Mountains.
The Crimean Submediterranean forest complex is an ecoregion on the Black Sea coast of Russia and Ukraine. It is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome.
The Italian sclerophyllous and deciduous forests ecoregion, part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, is in Italy. The ecoregion covers most of the Italian Peninsula and includes both evergreen and deciduous forests.
The Po Basin mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the basin of the Po River in northern Italy and Switzerland's Ticino canton.
The Celtic broadleaf forests are a terrestrial ecoregion that covers most of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Okhotsk-Manchurian taiga ecoregion is an area of coniferous forests in the Russian Far East, covering the Amur River delta, the west coast of the Okhotsk Sea, and the rugged extension of the northern Sikhote-Alin Mountains that run southwest-to-northeast through the Primorsky and Khabarovsk regions. It is the southernmost taiga forest in Eurasia. The ecoregion is distinguished from surrounding ecoregions by the slightly warmer climate due to the maritime influence and the shield of the mountains to the west, and by the mixing of flora and fauna species from Okhotsk-Kamchatka communities to the north and Manchurian species from the south. The forest at lower altitudes is "light taiga", and "dark taiga" at higher altitudes.
The Ussuri broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion covers a mountainous areas above the lower Amur River and Ussuri River in Primorsky Krai and Khabarovsk Krai in the Russian Far East. The ecoregion is in the Palearctic realm, with a Humid Continental climate. It covers 187,357 km2 (72,339 sq mi).
The East European forest steppe ecoregion is a patchwork of broadleaf forest stands and grasslands (steppe) that stretches 2,100 km across Eastern Europe from the Ural Mountains in Ural, through Povolzhye, Central Russia to the middle of Ukraine. There are isolated areas of similar character off the western end in eastern Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria.
The Pannonian mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in Europe. It covers an area of 307,720 km2 in all of Hungary, most of Slovakia, about half of Croatia and Slovenia, around a third of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, and Serbia, and minor parts of Austria, Czech Republic, and Ukraine.
The Carpathian montane conifer forests, also known as Carpathian montane forests, is a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion in the Carpathian Mountains of the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine.
The Cantabrian mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It extends along the coastal Cantabrian Mountains and Galician Massif of Northern Spain, extending south into northern Portugal, and northwards through the westernmost Pyrenees to southwestern France. The ecoregion extends from the seacoast to the highest peaks of the Cantabrian Mountains. The highest peak is Torre Cerredo at 2,648 meters elevation.
The Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the interior valleys and plateaus of the Iberian Peninsula. The ecoregion lies mostly in Spain, and includes some portions of eastern Portugal.
The Northeastern Spain and Southern France Mediterranean forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the Mediterranean coastal region of northeastern Spain, Southern France, the Balearic Islands and a small part of Italy.
The Central Korean deciduous forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion on the Korean Peninsula, covering portions of South Korea and North Korea.
The Alps conifer and mixed forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion in central Europe. It extends along the Alps mountains through portions of France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia. The ecoregion extends from the lower slopes of the Alps to its peaks, which include Mont Blanc, at 4,809 m (15,778 ft) the highest peak in the Alps.
