Poland is part of four terrestrial ecoregions, one freshwater ecoregion, and one marine ecoregion.
These ecoregions are defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and its partners, which include the European Environment Agency (EEA).[1]
Terrestrial
editPoland is part of the Palearctic realm, one of the eight biogeographic realms that cover the Earth's land surface. Poland has a humid temperate climate, and falls within two terrestrial biomes, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and temperate coniferous forests.
Most of Poland's natural vegetation is deciduous woodlands of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome.[2] Poland has three temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions:
- The Central European mixed forests ecoregion covers the largest portion of Poland, spanning from Lithuania to Romania, and from Germany to western Russia.[3][4][5]
- Northwestern Poland is in the Baltic mixed forests ecoregion, which also includes the Baltic Sea coastal regions of northeastern Germany, eastern Denmark, and southern Sweden.[6]
- The Western European broadleaf forests ecoregion extends into southwestern Poland (PA0445), covering the Polish portion of the Sudetes mountains.[7]
The southeastern portion of Poland, lying in the Carpathian Mountains, is within the Carpathian montane conifer forests ecoregion, part of the temperate coniferous forests biome.[8]
Freshwater
editPoland is part of the Central & Western Europe freshwater ecoregion. It encompasses the rivers and streams of western and central Europe between the North and Baltic seas to the north, and the Alps and Carpathian Mountains to the south.[9]
Marine
editPoland's coastal waters are in the Baltic Sea marine ecoregion. It is part of the Temperate Northern Atlantic marine realm.[10]
The World Wide Fund for Nature in Poland
editThe WWF is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) working on issues regarding the conservation, research and protection of the environment.[11] A branch of the World Wide Fund has operated in Poland since the early 1990s.[12] In 1993, the WWF Polska succeeded in the creation of the Biebrza National Park followed in 1998 by the opening of its first permanent office in Białystok, which led to the creation of additional protected areas including Ujście Warty Landscape Park, Krzesin Landscape Park and the Muskau Park (Mużakowski Park Krajobrazowy, added to UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004). In 2000, the new permanent office in Warsaw became the headquarters of the foundation. An additional branch was set up in Wrocław which helped create the Ujście Warty National Park in 2001. The next year, WWF Poland petitioned the government into signing the Kyoto Protocol. In 2004 it organized a campaign against the illegal trade in endangered species resulting in new laws enacted by Polish Parliament, and in 2008 caused the cancellation of the Via Baltica expressway across the Rospuda valley. In recent years, WWF Polska volunteers removed the estimated 20 tons of abandoned nets from the Baltic sea, among numerous other projects.[13]
References
edit- ^ "DMEER: Digital Map of European Ecological Regions". European Environmental Agency. Accessed 29 April 2020. [1]
- ^ Tod F. Stuessy (2009). Ecology: Vegetation zones (Google books preview). Columbia University Press. p. xix. ISBN 978-0231147125. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Will Blozan; Robert Leverett (2011). "Central European mixed forests (PA0412)". European Trees And Forests. The Native Tree Society (NTS), Florence, MA. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
- ^ "Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ Jodi A. Hilty (May 29, 2012). Introduction to the Region (Google books preview). Island Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-1610912037. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ "Western European broadleaf forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ "Carpathian montane conifer forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ "Central & Western Europe". Freshwater ecoregions of the World. Accessed 29 April 2020. [2]
- ^ Spalding, Mark D., Helen E. Fox, Gerald R. Allen, Nick Davidson et al. "Marine Ecoregions of the World: A Bioregionalization of Coastal and Shelf Areas". Bioscience Vol. 57 No. 7, July/August 2007, pp. 573–583.
- ^ Thaddeus C. Trzyna (1996). International Non-Governmental Organizations (Google books preview). Earthscan. p. 118. ISBN 9781853833076. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Historia WWF" (in Polish). WWF Global. Retrieved January 20, 2013.
- ^ "Rezultaty naszych działań". WWF Polska. WWF Global. Archived from the original on January 22, 2013. Retrieved January 20, 2013.