Pyrenees conifer and mixed forests


The Pyrenees conifer and mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It extends along the Pyrenees mountains which run east and west along the border between France and Spain, and includes all Andorra. The ecoregion extends from the lower slopes of the Pyrenees to its highest peaks, which include Aneto, Posets, and Vignemale.
The Pyrenees forests are at the transition between the Mediterranean climate regions of Spain and France, which lie to the south and east, and the more humid and temperate forests of Western Europe, which lie to the west and north.

Flora

The ecoregion's altitudinal range, and its various climatic regions support a variety of plant communities and species. The ecoregion has 3500 native plant species, including 200 endemic species.
The forested foothills of the southern slope, known as the Pre-Pyrenees, have a transitional Mediterranean climate with dry summers. Characteristic trees include evergreen Holm oak and deciduous Quercus faginea, Quercus pubescens, Tilia platyphyllos, and Acer opalus. Middle-elevation forests include deciduous broadleaf trees like Quercus petraea, Q. pubescens, and European beech, and conifer forests of Scots pine and Pyrenean pine
High-elevation forests are predominantly of European beech and silver fir. Mountain pine is common in continental-climate areas of the central Pyrenees with colder winters.
Subalpine and alpine plant communities occur above the timberline, and include many endemic species.

Fauna

Large mammals include Eurasian brown bear, Iberian wolf, Pyrenean chamois, wild boar, red deer, and roe deer. The reclusive Pyrenean desman is a vulnerable small mammal that lives here and in the Cantabrian Mountains. The Pyrenean ibex went extinct in 2000.
The Cantabrian brown bear, a distinct southwest-European subspecies of Eurasian brown bear, is now extinct in the Pyrenees; the last Cantabrian brown bear was shot in 2004. The Cantabrian brown bear now survives further west in the Cantabrian Mountains. Starting in 1996, the French government reintroduced Eurasian brown bears from Slovenia to the French Pyrenees. As of 2019, there were 40 to 50 brown bears in the Pyrenees.
The Pyrenees are home to 120 species of birds, including limited populations of lammergeier, Pyrenean capercaillie and rock ptarmigan.

Protected areas

3,863 km2, or 10%, of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Only 1% of the unprotected area is still covered with natural forest. Protected areas include Valles Occidentales Natural Park, Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, and Posets-Maladeta Natural Park in Aragon, Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, Alt Pirineu Natural Park, and Cadí-Moixeró Natural Park in Catalonia, and Pyrénées National Park, Pyrénées ariégeoises Regional Natural Park, and Pyrénées catalanes Regional Natural Park in France.