Hardangervidda, the largest mountain plateau in northern Europe

The Scandinavian Montane Birch forests and grasslands PA 1110 is one of the terrestrial ecoregions as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. Hardangervidda is a mountain range and national park in Norway. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Note: After losing a court case in 2002 on the use of the initials WWF, the organization previously known as the World Wrestling Federation has rebranded itself as World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE. WWF - The Conservation Organization was formerly known as World Wildlife Fund and Worldwide Fund for Nature. ...

Geography

Snow cover persist for at least half the year

The ecoregion follows the Scandinavian Mountains, and is mainly located within the borders of Norway and Sweden, as well as the northernmost part of Finland. This is a varied, 1,600 km long ecoregion, with a total area of approximately 243 000 sq km (slightly larger than Great Britain). The largest glaciers on the European mainland is located here, as is the highest mountains and the largest mountain plateau in northern Europe. The mountain chain itself creates a rainshadow, and the eastern part of the mountain chain is considerably drier than the western part. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1500x1000, 314 KB) Summary Trollheimen, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1500x1000, 314 KB) Summary Trollheimen, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. ... The Scandinavian Mountains, in Swedish Skanderna, Fjällen (The Mountains) or Kölen and in Norwegian Kjølen, with the two latter meaning the Keel, are a mountain range that runs through the Scandinavian Peninsula. ... A glacier is a large, persistent body of ice, formed largely of compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity. ... A Rainshadow is an area which is unusally dry due to nearby geographic features. ...

Habitats

Parts of the ecoregion is located in smaller mountain areas surrounded by lower elevation biomes, as is the case with many coastal mountains in Norway. About one third of the total area is made up by high alpine tundra with very modest vegetation and bare rock. Another third comprises low alpine tundra with continuous plant cover; dwarf birch and willows up to 1 m tall and grasslands, as well as numerous lakes and bogs. The last third is made up by the adjacent montane birch zone with small (2-4 m) mountain Downy birch (ssp czerepanovii) above the conifer treeline; some stunted spruce and pine trees near the treeline is also included, as are many lakes and bogs. This part is regarded as part of the North Boreal vegetation zone rather than tundra by Scandinavian botanists. In the lower elevations, the forests become closed-canopy and mostly belong to the Russian and Scandinavian taiga ecoregion; some of the coastal areas does not have true taiga. In Ecology, a biome is a major regional group of distinctive plant and animal communities well adapted to the regions physical environment. ... In physical geography, tundra is an area where tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. ... Binomial name Betula nana Dwarf birch (Betula nana) is a plant of the family Betulaceae. ... Species About 350, including: Salix acutifolia - Violet Willow Salix alaxensis - Alaska Willow Salix alba - White Willow Salix alpina - Alpine Willow Salix amygdaloides - Peachleaf Willow Salix arbuscula - Mountain Willow Salix arbusculoides - Littletree Willow Salix arctica - Arctic Willow Salix atrocinerea Salix aurita - Eared Willow Salix babylonica - Peking Willow Salix bakko Salix barrattiana... Lütt-Witt Moor, a bog in Henstedt-Ulzburg in northern Germany. ... Binomial name Betula pubescens Ehrh. ... Orders & Families Cordaitales † Pinales   Pinaceae - Pine family   Araucariaceae - Araucaria family   Podocarpaceae - Yellow-wood family   Sciadopityaceae - Umbrella-pine family   Cupressaceae - Cypress family   Cephalotaxaceae - Plum-yew family   Taxaceae - Yew family Vojnovskyales † Voltziales † The conifers, division Pinophyta, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. ... In this view of an alpine tree-line, the distant line looks particularly sharp. ... Binomial name Picea abies (L.) H. Karst. ... Binomial name Pinus sylvestris L. The Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris; family Pinaceae) is a common tree ranging from Great Britain and Spain east to eastern Siberia and the Caucasus Mountains, and as far north as Lapland. ... Pinguicula grandiflora Botany is the scientific study of plantlife. ...

Conservation value

The Scandinavian Montane Birch forests and grasslands is one of the Global 200 ecoregions, and is thus regarded as a high priority for conservation. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Flora and fauna

Near Alesjaure, northern Sweden

There are many alpine plant species in this region not found anywhere else in Europe, but often in the Arctic and sometimes in mountain areas in North America. The Fauna includes predators like wolverine, brown bear, wolf and red fox. The arctic fox is in danger of extinction in this area, but there are efforts to try to save the species. There are also wild reindeer (only in mountains in central Norway, domesticated reindeer is much more common). There are approximately 150 musk oxen on Dovrefjell, being transported from Greenland in the 1950s, as the species were extinct in Scandinavia. There is a rich bird life; most birds are migratory, but some stay all year. Alpine plants are plants whose natural habitat approaches the line of perpetual snow. ... The red line indicates the 10°C isotherm in July, commonly used to define the Arctic region border Satellite image of the Arctic surface The Arctic is the region around the Earths North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. ... Fauna is a collective term for animal life of any particular region or time. ... Binomial name Gulo gulo (Linnaeus, 1758) Wolverine range The Wolverine (Gulo gulo) is the largest land-dwelling species of the Mustelidae or weasel family (the Giant Otter is largest overall), and is the only species currently classified in the genus Gulo (meaning glutton). It is also called the Glutton or... Binomial name Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758 Ursus arctos range map. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call... Binomial name Vulpes vulpes Linnaeus, 1758 Red Fox range Synonyms Vulpes fulva, Vulpes fulvus The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is generally the most familiar of the foxes. ... Binomial name Alopex lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758) Arctic Fox range Synonyms Vulpes lagopus Arctic fox, also known as the polar fox, is a small fox native to cold Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. ... Binomial name Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758) Reindeer map The reindeer, known as caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer (Rangifer tarandus). ... Binomial name Ovibos moschatus (Zimmermann, 1780) The Musk ox (Ovibos moschatus) is a bovine noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor of the male. ... Dovrefjell is a mountain range in central Norway that forms a natural barrier between the southern regions of Norway and the area around Trondheim. ... Migration occurs when living things move from one biome to another. ...

See also

• Alpine tundra
• Scandinavian coastal conifer forests
• Vegetation of Norway

In physical geography, tundra is an area where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. ... This forest is located from Snillfjord just south of the Trondheimsfjord in Sør-Trøndelag county and north along the coast to Vefsn in Nordland county (this area is sometimes referred to as central Norway or the middle part of Norway). ... Map of Norway Norway is located in Northern Europe on the western and northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, bordering the North Sea in southwest and the Skagerrak inlet to the south, the North Atlantic Ocean (Norwegian Sea) in the west and the Barents Sea to the northeast. ...

External links

• WWF
• National Geographic