Pindus Mountains mixed forests

Pindus Mountains mixed forests
	Map of ecoregion PA1217
Ecology
Biome	Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub
Borders	Dinaric Mountains mixed forests, Balkan mixed forests, Aegean and western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests and Illyrian deciduous forests
Bird species	229[1]
Mammal species	68[1]
Geography
Area	39,500 km2 (15,300 sq mi)
Countries	Greece, North Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo
Conservation
Habitat loss	36.395%[1]
Protected	4.32%[1]

The Pindus Mountains mixed forests constitute a terrestrial ecoregion of Europe according to both the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency. It belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, and is in the Palearctic realm.

The Pindus Mountains mixed forests are situated in the montane parts of the southern Balkans in the wide altitudinal range above 300–500 m. They cover Taygetus on the Peloponnesus in the south, occur in the mountain ranges of Central Greece (including the Pindus), eastern Albania and the southwestern part of North Macedonia, extend to the Drin River valley in the north and occupy 39,500 km² (15,300 sq. mi) in the three countries.

The ecoregion is landlocked and surrounded by the Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests (in Greece), Illyrian deciduous forests (in Greece and Albania), Dinaric Mountains mixed forests (in Albania to the north of the Drin) and Balkan mixed forests (in Kosovo, North Macedonia and Greece).

The climate of the ecoregion is mostly of Köppen's Mediterranean type with hot summers (Csa).

Due to the wide altitudinal range of this ecoregion the highest elevations (above 1,000-1,400 m) are covered with coniferous forests, with a mixed broadleaf zone occurring lower. The coniferous forests are dominated by Pinus nigra subsp. nigra var. pallasiana, Abies cephalonica and A. borisii-regis, with deciduous European Beech in the north. Juniperus foetidissima occurs widely near the tree line. The dominant species on the lower elevations are remarkably diverse, including Aesculus hippocastanum (in more damp places) and various deciduous oaks (Quercus frainetto, Q. pubescens, Q. cerris, Q. trojana, Q. petraea). Evergreen oaks, mainly Q. calliprinos, and other Mediterranean sclerophyll shrubland species are abundant on dry and rocky south-facing slopes.

Phytogeographically, the ecoregion is shared between the East Mediterranean province of the Mediterranean Region and the Illyrian province of the Circumboreal Region within the Holarctic Kingdom (Armen Takhtajan's delineation).

National parks

Chelmos-Vouraikos National Park (Greece)
Mount Olympus (Greece)
Mount Parnassus (Greece)
Mount Oeta (Greece)
Vikos–Aoös National Park (Greece)
Pindus National Park (Greece)
Lake Prespa (Greece)
Mount Dajt (Albania)
Lurë National Park (Albania)
Tomorr (Albania)
Galičica (North Macedonia)
Pelister (North Macedonia)

gollark: To be fair, some people probably weren't managing well, but that's no reason to do this to everyone.

gollark: I was basically fine with the "not much supervision, you get set work" thing, but this is just stupid.

gollark: I mean, I was fine with working remotely. I could get more done, did not have to bother with (as much) busy-work, had a flexible schedule, sort of thing.

gollark: It seems like they just completely disregarded the benefits of asynchronous communication, and decided that they had to make it as much like normal in-person school as possible, even despite the detriment to... actually teaching things.

gollark: I got an email from them (not even to me directly, forwarded from my parents) and:- the removed week of the summer term is being added to the end- they seem to expect to reopen in a month or so?- half the lessons will apparently now involve "human interaction", implying video calls or something, which will be *really annoying*, instead of having them just set work- they're running a timetable?!- I'm expected to be up by 08:45⸘

References

Hoekstra, J. M.; Molnar, J. L.; Jennings, M.; Revenga, C.; Spalding, M. D.; Boucher, T. M.; Robertson, J. C.; Heibel, T. J.; Ellison, K. (2010). Molnar, J. L. (ed.). The Atlas of Global Conservation: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities to Make a Difference. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26256-0.

External links

"Pindus Mountains mixed forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.

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[Atlas-1] Hoekstra, J. M.; Molnar, J. L.; Jennings, M.; Revenga, C.; Spalding, M. D.; Boucher, T. M.; Robertson, J. C.; Heibel, T. J.; Ellison, K. (2010). Molnar, J. L. (ed.). The Atlas of Global Conservation: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities to Make a Difference. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26256-0.