Life zones of central Europe
Central Europe contains several life zones, depending on location and elevation.
Geographically, Central Europe lies between the Baltic Sea and the Apennine and Balkan peninsulas. It includes the plains of Germany and Poland; the Alps; and the Carpathian Mountains. The Central European Flora region stretches from Central France to Central Romania and Southern Scandinavia. The lowlands of Central Europe contain the Central European mixed forests ecoregion, while the mountains host the Alps conifer and mixed forests and Carpathian montane conifer forests ecoregions.
An important factor in the local climate and ecology of Central Europe is the elevation: an increase of elevation by causes the average air temperature to drop by and decreases the amount of water that can be held by the atmosphere by 30%. This decrease in temperature and increase in rainfall result in altitudinal zonation, where the land can be divided into life zones of similar climate and ecology, depending on elevation.
Life zones
The life zones of the Eastern and Central Alps are:- Planar zone, under 300 m, under 150 m, agriculture.
- Foothill zone, 300 – 800 m, 150 – 300 m, oak limit. European Beech, Sessile oak, Pedunculate oak or English oak, European or common hornbeam and small-leaved Lime. Grape crop limit, around 600 m, Switzerland, North Side, South Slope, estimated 7.5 °C. Crops: maize for feed; sweet maize.
- Submontane zone, 700 - 1,000 m, 300 – 450 m, European Beech, Silver Fir or European Silver Fir and Norway Spruce. Coniferous forests by reforestation limit around 800 m, North Side.
- Montane zone, 800 – 1,200 m, 450 – 650 m, rye and wheat crop limit.
- Mid-montane zone, 1,000 – 1,400 m, 650 – 800 m. Limit of the whole year populated areas. Limit of a growing season of more than 100 days.
- Altimontane zone, 1,300 – 1,850 m, 800 – 1,500 m. Deciduous forests limit, Sycamore Maple and European Beech.
- Subalpine zone, 1,500 – 2,500 m, above 1,500 m, Scots Pine, Norway Spruce, Swiss Pine limit and European Larch limit, 2,000 m, some specimens up to 2,850 m, South Slope. Tree line and Krummholz zone or ecotone, Sub-alpine meadow and Alpine climate.
- Alpine zone, 2,000 - 3,000 m, Montane grasslands and shrublands. Mountain Pine or Mugo Pine limit. Alpine meadows just used in the warm season.
- Snow zone, above 3,000 m, alpine desert, scree, permafrost and above snow line.
Climate
| Approx. coordinates of the weather station | Precipitation | Altitude | Temperature | |
| Weissfluhjoch | 1,158 mm | 2,690 m | -3.2 °C | |
| Pilatus | 1,842 mm | 2,106 m | 0.9 °C | |
| Napf | 1,355 mm | 1,406 m | 4.0 °C | |
| Engelberg | 1,571 mm | 1,035 m | 5.4 °C | |
| Buchs-Suhr | 1,027 mm | 387 m | 8.6 °C |