This ecoregion is also known as the Carpathian Montane Conifer Forests or Carpathian Montane Forests. Essentially covering the same area as the Carpathian Mountains, the ecoregion is surrounded by temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregions.
Forming a backwards “C”, the ecoregion covers, from the north clockwise, northern Slovakia, the extreme eastern corner of the Czech Republic, southernmost Poland, a north-south band through the Ukraine and Romania, before curving eastward through central Romania. The Apuseni Mountains in Transylvania form a disjunct high-altitude area.
Adjacent Ecoregions, from the north clockwise, include the Central European Mixed Forests (PA0412) to the north and east, a tiny contiguous area of the East European Forest Steppe (PA0419) at its southeast corner in Romania, the Balkan Mixed Forests (PA0404) to the south, and in all areas to the west, the Pannonian Mixed Forests (PA0431).
Description of the Ecoregion
As summarized in Wikipedia, the forests of the ecoregion can be described as follows:
Foothill forests below 600–650 meters elevation are mostly of broadleaf deciduous trees, principally English oak (Quercus robur), small-leafed lime (Tilia cordata), and European hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) in the northern portion of the range, and oaks in the southern portion of the range.
Montane forests occur between 600 and 1100 meters elevation in the northern range, and between 650 and 1450 m in the south. European beech (Fagus sylvatica) and silver fir (Abies alba) are the characteristic trees, along with Norway spruce (Picea abies) and sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus). Nearly pure stands of European beech occur in some ranges, including the White Carpathians and Little Carpathians in the western Carpathians, the Vihorlat, Bukovec, and Biesczady mountains in the Eastern Carpathians, and areas of the southern Carpathians. In other areas the conifers silver fir and Norway spruce are predominant, including the Tatra Mountains, Moravian-Silesian Beskids, and Orava Magura in the western Carpathians and the Gorgany and Bistrița Mountains in the eastern Carpathians.
The subalpine zone, between 1100 and 1400 meters elevation in the north and 1400 and 1900 meters in the south, is dominated by Norway spruce, with lesser numbers of rowan (Sorbus aucuparia). At the timberline (1400 meters elevation in the north and 1900 meters in the south) arolla pine (Pinus cembra) predominates. In the Tatras the timberline forests are a mix of arolla pines and European larch (Larix decidua). Krummholtz grows above the timberline, with mountain pine (Pinus mugo), dwarf juniper (Juniperus communis subsp. alpina), and green alder (Alnus alnobetula subsp. fruticosa). Above the krummholtz are alpine meadows. In the Bieszczady Mountains there is no Norway spruce zone, and dwarfed beeches transition directly to alpine meadows above 1200 meters elevation. The highest peaks are rocky, with some sparse alpine plants and lichens.
Birds of the Ecoregion
Text under development. The Tatra chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica) is a subspecies of goat-antelope endemic to the Tatra Mountains.