Celtic broadleaf forests
Celtic broadleaf forests | |
---|---|
Caledonian forest | |
Geography | |
Area | 209,000[1] km2 (81,000 sq mi) |
Countries | |
Conservation | |
Conservation status | critical/endangered[1] |
The Celtic broadleaf forests are a terrestrial ecoregion that covers most of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland.
Geography
The Celtic broadleaf forests occupy most of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, including the
Climate
The climate of the forest is oceanic, leading to frequent precipitation, high precipitation days, high moisture and low sunshine levels; temperature extremes are rare. The combination of moisture and low evaporation (low sunshine amounts) leads to high dampness levels.
Flora
The principal plant communities include:[1]
- lowland to submontane acidophilous oak forests,
- mixed oak forests, principally of English oak (Quercus robur) and sessile oak (Quercus petraea).
- mixed oak-ash forests.
Plant communities with smaller areas include:
- western boreal and nemoral-montane birch forests,
- fen and swamp forests,
- ombrotrophic miresin northern England and southern Scotland.
In addition to the two native oak species (Quercus robur and Q. petraea), broad-leafed deciduous trees include
Fauna
Animals known to inhabit the forests are as follows;
- Deer
- Red deer
- Roe deer
- European badger
- European hedgehog
- European otter
- Horseshoe bat
- Red fox
- Stoat
- Weasel
Many other species once inhabited the forest; however, due to
Habitat status
Ninety percent[citation needed] of the Celtic forest habitat has been destroyed, generally over the last few thousand years, due to agriculture, fire-wood use and general deforestation. The outcome is an ecoregion which has not only lost most of its pristine cover, but which has been heavily degraded by fragmentation. The forests today are in a critical status, with the majority of the land having become the rolling pasture-hills typically associated with England.
Prehistory
This ecoregion is relatively young, having been buried under deep ice during the
Archeological evidence shows indigenous towns such as York had existed for a millennium prior to the Romans arriving, but the recorded history of the ecoregion begins with major Roman urban settlements established in the first century AD. Viking settlement in coastal areas of western Scotland, Wales, and eastern Ireland was widespread from at least the ninth century AD.
References
- ^ World Wildlife Fund.
- ^ "Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World | Data Basin". databasin.org.
External links
- Media related to Celtic broadleaf forests at Wikimedia Commons