North Atlantic moist mixed forests | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Realm | Palearctic |
Biome | Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests |
Borders | Celtic broadleaf forests and Caledonian forest |
Geography | |
Area | 22,000 [1] km2 (8,500 sq mi) |
Countries | Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom (Northern Ireland and Scotland) and Denmark (Faroe Islands) |
Conservation | |
Conservation status | Critical/endangered [2] |
The North Atlantic moist mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion in Northwestern Europe. It consists of maritime forests and heathlands on the western and northern coasts of Ireland, Scotland, and neighboring islands. The ecoregion has undergone major habitat loss.
The North Atlantic moist mixed forests occur along the western and northern coasts of Ireland and Scotland, stretching from southwestern Ireland to the north coast of Scotland, and including the Hebrides, Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe islands. [3]
Naturally-occurring plant communities include: [4]
Western Scotland's and Ireland's forests have undergone significant habitat loss and damage through deforestation and hunting of its once abundant wildlife. Animals such as the grey wolf, wild boar, brown bear, European bison, Eurasian lynx, tarpan and golden eagle used to inhabit the forests; however, due to over-hunting and excessive timber extraction, the animals have lost their habitats. The North Atlantic moist mixed forests ecoregion is classified as critical/endangered by the World Wildlife Fund.
Protected areas in the ecoregion include:
The ecoregion is relatively young with regard to human settlement, due to glaciation during the most recent ice age, less than 10,000 years ago. Mesolithic peoples were certainly in evidence circa 9000 to 8000 years ago throughout the present day Irish portion of the ecoregion, as well as somewhat later in the western Scotland areas of the North Atlantic moist mixed forests. Neolithic farming ensued, as grain farming technologies developed, along with advancing forms of livestock tending, along with appearance of some of the early Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological monumental sites in the region including standing stones and stone circles.
Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a tropical and subtropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
The Malabar Coast moist forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of southwestern India.
The Mullaghareirk Mountains is a range of hills in Ireland on the borders of County Cork, County Kerry and County Limerick. The area is also known as Sliabh Luachra. The highest point is Baraveha at 451 metres (1,480 ft). It is bordered by the Blackwater valley to the south, Castleisland to the west, Athea to the north and the Deel valley to the east. Villages in the hills include Rockchapel, Ballydesmond, Brosna, Gneevgullia, Mountcollins, Newmarket, Meelin and Tournafulla. The Allaughaun River, a tributary of the River Feale, rises at the east end of the range.
The Maputaland coastal forest mosaic is a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion on the Indian Ocean coast of Southern Africa. It covers an area of 29,961 square kilometres (11,568 sq mi) in southern Mozambique, Eswatini, and the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Mozambique's capital Maputo lies within the ecoregion.
The Eastern Highlands moist deciduous forests, or East Deccan moist deciduous forests, is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregion in east-central India. The ecoregion covers an area of 341,100 square kilometers (131,700 sq mi), extending across portions of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Telangana states.
The Euxine–Colchic deciduous forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion located along the southern shore of the Black Sea. The ecoregion extends along the thin coastal strip from the southeastern corner of Bulgaria in the west, across the northern coast of Turkey, to Georgia in the east, where it wraps around the eastern end of the Black Sea.
The Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests is a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in western Myanmar (Burma). Surrounded at lower elevations by moist tropical forests, this ecoregion is home a diverse range of subtropical and temperate species, including many species characteristic of the Himalayas, as well as many endemic species.
The English Lowlands beech forests are a terrestrial ecoregion in the United Kingdom, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). It covers 45,600 km2 (17,600 sq mi) of Southern England, approximately as far as the border with Devon and South Wales in the west, into the Severn valley in the north-west, into the East Midlands in the north, and up to the border of Norfolk in the north-east of its range. The WWF code for this ecoregion is PA0421.
The Chiquitano dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in Bolivia and Brazil. The ecoregion is named for the Chiquitano people who live in the region.
Pakistan's native flora reflects its varied climatic zones, which range from arid and semi-arid to temperate and tropical.
The Western Himalayan broadleaf forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion which is found in the middle elevations of the western Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, and Pakistan.
The Middle Atlantic coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forest mixed with patches of evergreen broadleaved forests along the coast of the southeastern United States.
The Central American montane forests are an ecoregion of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, located in mountains of Central America.
The Celtic broadleaf forests are a terrestrial ecoregion that covers most of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.
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 Guizhou Plateau broadleaf and mixed forests are a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Yungui Plateau of China. Much of the original forest has been replaced by secondary forests.
The Atlantic mixed forests is a terrestrial ecoregion in western Europe. It extends along the western edge of continental Europe, from southwestern France through northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands, northwestern Germany, and western Denmark. Most of the region's forests and dunes have been converted to fields, pastures, and forest plantations, and its once-extensive wetlands have mostly been drained and filled.
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 Azores temperate mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of southwestern Europe. It encompasses the Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. These volcanic islands are an autonomous region of Portugal, and lie 1500 km west of the Portuguese mainland.
The Chimalapas montane forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico. It includes the montane tropical forests of the Chimalapas region on the boundary of Chiapas and Oaxaca.