The Illyrian deciduous forests form a terrestrial ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 according to both the WWF

World Wide Fund for Nature

The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...

 and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency

European Environment Agency

European Environment Agency is an agency of the European Union. Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. It is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public...

. It belongs to the biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

 of Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, defined by the World Wildlife Fund, characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near some seas, as near San Francisco, which have a sea of cool waters...

, and to the Palearctic ecozone.

The Illyrian deciduous forests stretch along the eastern coast of the Ionian

Ionian Sea

The Ionian Sea , is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, south of the Adriatic Sea. It is bounded by southern Italy including Calabria, Sicily and the Salento peninsula to the west, southern Albania to the north, and a large number of Greek islands, including Corfu, Zante, Kephalonia, Ithaka, and...

 and Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...

s (including the islands) and occupy 40,600 km² (15,700 sq. mi) in Northern Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

, Montenegro

Montenegro

Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

, Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 and Northern Italy

Northern Italy

Northern Italy is a wide cultural, historical and geographical definition, without any administrative usage, used to indicate the northern part of the Italian state, also referred as Settentrione or Alta Italia...

 near Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

.

The ecoregion is surrounded by the Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests (in Greece), Pindus Mountains mixed forests

Pindus Mountains mixed forests

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...

 (in Greece and Albania), Dinaric Mountains mixed forests

Dinaric Mountains mixed forests

The Dinaric Mountains mixed forests form 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 Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests Biome, and to the Palearctic ecozone.-Distribution:The...

 (in Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia nad Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy) and Po Basin mixed forests

Po Basin mixed forests

Po Basin mixed forests is a term used to describe an ecoregion and biome composed of trees and other vegetation characteristically found in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests surrounding the Po River in Northern Italy, and its watershed from the Cisalpine, or Italian side, of the...

 (in Italy).

The climate of the ecoregion is mostly of Köppen

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

's Mediterranean

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

 type with hot summers (Csa) to humid subtropical

Humid subtropical climate

A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...

 with wet winters (Cfa).

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

Maquis shrubland

thumb|220px|Low Maquis in Corsica.220px|thumb|High macchia in Sardinia.Maquis or macchia is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs such as holm oak, tree heath, strawberry tree, sage, juniper, buckthorn, spurge olive and myrtle...

 occurring lower. The conifer zone is dominated by the Norway Spruce

Norway Spruce

Norway Spruce is a species of spruce native to Europe. It is also commonly referred to as the European Spruce.- Description :...

, Silver Fir

Silver Fir

Abies alba, commonly known as the European silver fir, is a fir native to the mountains of Europe, from the Pyrenees north to Normandy, east to the Alps and the Carpathians, and south to southern Italy and northern Serbia.-Description:...

 and European Black Pine

European Black Pine

Pinus nigra, the European Black Pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across southern Mediterranean Europe from Spain to the Crimea, in Asia Minor and on Cyprus, and in the high mountains of the Maghreb in North Africa....

 with the admixture of the European Beech

European Beech

Fagus sylvatica, the European Beech or Common Beech, is a deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae.-Natural range:...

. The dominant species of the lower zones include various deciduous oaks (Quercus frainetto, Q. pubescens, Q. cerris), Carpinus orientalis

Carpinus orientalis

Carpinus orientalis is a hornbeam native from southeastern Europe to northern Iran and occurs usually on hot dry sites at lower altitudes than European Hornbeam....

, Fraxinus ornus

Fraxinus ornus

Fraxinus ornus is a species of Fraxinus native to southern Europe and southwestern Asia, from Spain and Italy north to Austria and the Czech Republic, and east through the Balkans, Turkey, and western Syria to the Lebanon.It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 15–25 m tall with a trunk up...

with Cotinus coggygria, Paliurus spina-christi

Paliurus spina-christi

Paliurus spina-christi, commonly known as Jerusalem Thorn, Garland Thorn, Christ's Thorn, or Crown of Thorns, is a species of Paliurus native to the Mediterranean region and southwest and central Asia, from Morocco and Spain east to Iran and Tajikistan.It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing...

, Cercis siliquastrum

Cercis siliquastrum

Cercis siliquastrum, commonly known as Judas Tree, is a small deciduous tree from Southern Europe and Western Asia which is noted for its prolific display of deep-pink flowers in spring.-Description:...

. Evergreen trees and maquis shrubs (Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis, Pistacia terebinthus, P. lentiscus, Juniperus oxycedrus

Juniperus oxycedrus

Juniperus oxycedrus is a species of juniper, native across the Mediterranean region from Morocco and Portugal, north to southern France, east to westernmost Iran, and south to Lebanon and Israel, growing on a variety of rocky sites from sea level up...

, J. macrocarpa

Juniperus macrocarpa

Juniperus macrocarpa is a species of juniper, native across the northern Mediterranean region from southeastern Spain east to western Turkey and Cyprus, growing on coastal sand dunes from sea level up to 75 m altitude.It is a spreading shrub 2-5 m tall, rarely a small tree up to 14 m...

, Arbutus unedo, A. andrachne

Arbutus andrachne

Arbutus andrachne, commonly called the Greek Strawberry Tree, is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, and southwestern Asia.-Garden history:...

, Nerium oleander) become predominant near the coast.

Phytogeographically

Phytogeography

Phytogeography , also called geobotany, is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution of plant species...

, the ecoregion is shared between the Adriatic and East Mediterranean provinces of the Mediterranean Region within the Holarctic Kingdom (according to Armen Takhtajan

Armen Takhtajan

Armen Leonovich Takhtajan or Takhtajian , was a Soviet-Armenian botanist, one of the most important figures in 20th century plant evolution and systematics and biogeography. His other interests included morphology of flowering plants, paleobotany, and the flora of the Caucasus...

's delineation).

External links

• Illyrian deciduous forests (PA1210), World Wildlife Fund, 2001.