Illyrian deciduous forests

Illyrian deciduous forests
forest with Aleppo pine (Pinus halapensis) near Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Ecoregion territory (in purple)
Ecology
Realm	Palearctic
Biome	Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Borders	Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests Dinaric Mountains mixed forests Pindus Mountains mixed forests Po Basin mixed forests
Geography
Area	39,390 km2 (15,210 sq mi)
Countries	List Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Greece Italy Montenegro Slovenia
Conservation
Conservation status	critical/endangered
Protected	8,855 km2 (22%)

The Illyrian deciduous forests is a terrestrial ecoregion in southern Europe, which extends along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, and is in the Palearctic realm.

Geography

The Illyrian deciduous forests stretch along the eastern coast of the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, and occupies 40,600 km² (15,700 sq mi) in Northern Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Northern Italy around Trieste.

The ecoregion is bounded by the Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests (in Greece), Pindus Mountains mixed forests (in Greece and Albania), Dinaric Mountains mixed forests (in Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy) and Po Basin mixed forests (in Italy).

Climate

The climate of the ecoregion is mostly of Köppen's Mediterranean type with hot summers (Csa) to humid subtropical with wet winters (Cfa).

Flora

Due to the wide altitudinal range of this ecoregion the highest elevations (above 1,000 m (3,300 ft)) are covered with conifer forests, with a mixed broadleaf vegetation and maquis shrubland occurring lower.

The conifer zone is dominated by the Silver fir, norway spruce, European black pine, in some places Bosnian pine with the admixture of the European beech. Dinaric calcareous block fir forest grows on limestone outcrops.

The dominant species of the lower zones include various deciduous oaks Quercus frainetto, Q. pubescens, Q. cerris, Quercus trojana, Quercus macrolepis, with other deciduous trees and shrubs Carpinus orientalis, Fraxinus ornus, Cotinus coggygria, Paliurus spina-christi, Cercis siliquastrum. Evergreen trees and maquis shrubs Quercus ilex, Quercus coccifera, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinea, Pinus nigra, Pistacia terebinthus, P. lentiscus, Vachellia tortilis, Erica arborea, Juniperus oxycedrus, J. macrocarpa, Balanites aegyptiaca, Salix alba, Olea europaea, Juglans regia, Phoenix canariensis, Arbutus unedo, Cupressus sempervirens, A. andrachne, Nerium oleander become predominant near the coast.

Ecoregion delineation

The Illyrian deciduous forests ecoregion is delineated by the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency. Phytogeographically, the ecoregion is shared between the Adriatic and East Mediterranean provinces of the Mediterranean Region within the Holarctic Kingdom (according to Armen Takhtajan's delineation).

External links

• "Illyrian deciduous forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.