Poland is part of four terrestrial ecoregions, one freshwater ecoregion, and one marine ecoregion.
These ecoregions are defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and its partners, which include the European Environment Agency (EEA). [1]
Poland is part of the Palearctic realm, one of the eight biogeographic realms that cover the Earth's land surface. Poland has a humid temperate climate, and falls within two terrestrial biomes, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and temperate coniferous forests.
Most of Poland's natural vegetation is deciduous woodlands of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. [2] Poland has three temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions:
The southeastern portion of Poland, lying in the Carpathian Mountains, is within the Carpathian montane conifer forests ecoregion, part of the temperate coniferous forests biome. [8]
Poland is part of the Central & Western Europe freshwater ecoregion. It encompasses the rivers and streams of western and central Europe between the North and Baltic seas to the north, and the Alps and Carpathian Mountains to the south. [9]
Poland's coastal waters are in the Baltic Sea marine ecoregion. It is part of the Temperate Northern Atlantic marine realm. [10]
The WWF is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) working on issues regarding the conservation, research and protection of the environment. [11] A branch of the World Wide Fund has operated in Poland since the early 1990s. [12] In 1993, the WWF Polska succeeded in the creation of the Biebrza National Park followed in 1998 by the opening of its first permanent office in Białystok, which led to the creation of additional protected areas including Ujście Warty Landscape Park, Krzesin Landscape Park and the Muskau Park (Mużakowski Park Krajobrazowy, added to UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004). In 2000, the new permanent office in Warsaw became the headquarters of the foundation. An additional branch was set up in Wrocław which helped create the Ujście Warty National Park in 2001. The next year, WWF Poland petitioned the government into signing the Kyoto Protocol. In 2004 it organized a campaign against the illegal trade in endangered species resulting in new laws enacted by Polish Parliament, and in 2008 caused the cancellation of the Via Baltica expressway across the Rospuda valley. In recent years, WWF Polska volunteers removed the estimated 20 tons of abandoned nets from the Baltic sea, among numerous other projects. [13]
A biome is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. A biome encompasses multiple ecosystems within its boundaries. It can also comprise a variety of habitats.
An ecoregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation . Ecoregions are also known as "ecozones", although that term may also refer to biogeographic realms.
The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface.
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their species dynamics, and environmental conditions". For example, based on their levels of endemism, Madagascar gets multiple listings, ancient Lake Baikal gets one, and the North American Great Lakes get none.
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
The Sarmatic mixed forests constitute an ecoregion within the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature classification. The term comes from the word "Sarmatia".
The Balkan mixed forests are a terrestrial ecoregion of southeastern Europe according to both the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency. It belongs in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome and the Palearctic realm.
The Dinaric Mountains mixed forests are a terrestrial ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome in Southeastern Europe, according to both the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency. It also is in the Palearctic realm.
The Rodope montane mixed forests is a terrestrial ecoregion of Europe defined by the WWF. It belongs in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome and the Palearctic realm.
The Central European mixed forests ecoregion is a temperate hardwood forest covering much of northeastern Europe, from Germany to Russia. The area is only about one-third forested, with pressure from human agriculture leaving the rest in a patchwork of traditional pasture, meadows, wetlands. The ecoregion is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome, and the Palearctic realm, with a Humid Continental climate. It covers 731,154 km2 (282,300 sq mi).
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.
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