Rodope montane mixed forests

Rodope montane mixed forests
Rodope montane mixed forests
	Forests near Smolyan in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria
	Location of the Rodope montane mixed forests
Ecology
Realm	Palearctic
Biome	Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Borders	Aegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests; Balkan mixed forests;
Geography
Area	31,689 km2 (12,235 sq mi)
Countries	Bulgaria; Greece; North Macedonia; Serbia;
Conservation
Conservation status	critical/endangered
Global 200	European-Mediterranean montane mixed forest
Protected	17,723 km² (56%)

The Rodope montane mixed forests is a terrestrial ecoregion of Europe defined by the WWF. It belongs in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome and the Palearctic realm.

Geography

The Rodope montane mixed forests cover the higher parts of the Balkan Mountains, the Rhodope Mountains, Rila, Pirin, Vitosha, Sredna Gora, Ograzhden and Maleshevo, situated almost entirely in Bulgaria, as well as in some adjacent areas in Greece, North Macedonia and Serbia. They span an area of 31,600 km² and are replaced at lower altitudes by the Balkan mixed forests.

The number of species of vascular plants in the ecoregion are estimated at 3,000. The lower areas are covered with mixed deciduous woods, most prominently with European beech, Oriental hornbeam, European hornbeam and several oak species. The higher zones are dominated by coniferous forests — Scots pine, Bosnian pine, Macedonian pine, Bulgarian fir, Silver fir, Norway spruce, etc. The highest altitudes support shrubs, heath and Alpine tundra.

The Rodope montane mixed forests are sanctuary to a number of endangered mammal species, such as brown bears, wolves, European pine martens, European otters, wildcats and chamois. More common large mammals include roe deer, wild boars and foxes.

Most of the European birds of prey can be found in the region, including the rare Eastern imperial eagle, cinereous vulture and griffon vulture.

The Rodope montane mixed forests ecoregion holds a total of four national parks, three of them are situated in Bulgaria, and they comprise the Central Balkan National Park, Pirin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Rila National Park. The other one is the Rodopi Mountain Range National Park in Greece.^[2]^[3]

^ Eric Dinerstein, David Olson, et al. (2017). An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience, Volume 67, Issue 6, June 2017, Pages 534–545; Supplemental material 2 table S1b. [1]
^ "Ecoregions 2017 ©". ecoregions.appspot.com. Retrieved 2024-08-18.
^ "Φ.Δ.Ο.Ρ. - Territory of RMNP". www.fdor.gr. Retrieved 2024-08-18.