Central European mixed forests


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.

Location and description

The ecoregion covers the formerly-glaciated central plains of Central Europe, from eastern Germany and the shores of the Baltic Sea, through large parts of the Czech Republic, Poland, Southern Lithuania, Belarus, Eastern and Central Ukraine, and a part of Russia. The terrain is mostly flat lowlands in the center, hilly moraine-dominated in the north, and uplands to the south along the Carpathian mountains. To the north is the Sarmatic mixed forests ecoregion, the forests of which feature more spruce and pine. To the east is the East European forest steppe, in which the forest stands thin out into grasslands. To the south is the Carpathian montane forests ecoregion, featuring mountain pastures and forests of beech, spruce, elm, and dwarf pine. Also to the north are the Baltic mixed forests of oaks, hornbeam, and linden trees on flat, acidic soils. To the west is the Western European broadleaf forests ecoregion, which is now mostly cultivated agricultural land.

Climate

The portions of the ecoregion in Germany and western Poland have a climate that is classified as Oceanic climate, subtropical highland variety . The eastern part has a climate of Humid continental climate, warm summer. This climate is characterized by large seasonal temperature differentials and a warm summer. The mean January temperature is in Germany to in Belarus. Precipitation average between 500 mm and 700 mm, mostly falling during the summer growing season.

Flora and fauna

Oak forests are characteristic throughout the region, with some pine forests in the north. Forest cover ranges from 15% in Ukraine to 33% in the Czech Republic. The most common tree in the ecoregion, covering half of the forested area, is the Scots pine, which has been planted extensively over the past 200 years. The truly mixed deciduous forests have been replaced mostly by agriculture. The non-forested areas are largely meadows and pastures dedicated to human agricultural uses. There are also extensive wetlands in the lowlands.
The wetlands support diverse bird communities, but mammals are heavily pressured by human land use. Because of the uniformity of the terrain and openness to other regions, there are no endemic species in the ecoregion. In some countries, 20-30 of the mammal species are threatened.

European bison

The Białowieża Forest in Poland are home to one of the last herds of European bison, also known as wisent, the heaviest surviving wild land animal in Europe Historically, the wisent's range encompassed all of the European lowlands, extending from the Massif Central to the Caucasus. Its range decreased as growing human populations cut down trees. The European bison became extinct in southern Sweden in the 11th century, and southern England in the 12th century. The species survived in the Ardennes and the Vosges until the 15th century before being hunted to extinction. In mid-16th century King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland pronounced a death penalty for poaching a European bison in Białowieża. Despite these measures, its population continued to decline. During World War I, occupying German troops killed 600 wisent for food, hides, and horns. The last wild European bison in Poland was killed in 1919. They were reintroduced from captivity.

Protections

The Central European mixed forests has been affected heavily by human activity. Most protected areas are small and fragmented. Some of the large, or more representative, protected areas in the ecoregion include: