Southern Great Lakes forests

Southern Great Lakes forests
South Chagrin River near Cleveland, Ohio
Ecology
Biome Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Borders
Bird species 220[1]
Mammal species 56[1]
Geography
Area 244,500 km2 (94,400 sq mi)
Countries United States and Canada
States/Provinces Michigan, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania and Indiana
Conservation
Habitat loss 99%[1]

The Southern Great Lakes lowland forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregion of North America, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It lies mostly in the central northeastern United States and extends into southeast central Canada.

Setting

This area includes the southern half of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, and much of Indiana and Ohio.[2] It also extends through the southern half of Southwest Ontario from Windsor to Toronto and into Pennsylvania and New York on the southern rims of lakes Erie and Ontario.

This region is characterized by warm-to-hot summers and mild-to-cold, snowy winters.

Flora

This ecoregion is associated with the temperate deciduous forest to the south and thus contained a variety of habitats including freshwater marshes, dunes, bogs, fens, and hardwood and conifer swamps.

Fauna

The Southern Great Lakes forests were very rich in wildlife. Birds include cardinals, downy woodpecker, wood duck and eastern screech owl. Large mammals including American black bear (Ursus americanus), moose (Alces alces), and gray wolf (Canis lupus) have been removed from this ecoregion and remaining mammals include white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), coyote (Canis latrans), snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus), American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) and eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis).

Threats and preservation

Because of extensive urbanization and agricultural use very little of this habitat remains intact.

See also

  1. 1 2 3 Hoekstra, J. M.; Molnar, J. L.; Jennings, M.; Revenga, C.; Spalding, M. D.; Boucher, T. M.; Robertson, J. C.; Heibel, T. J.; Ellison, K. (2010). Molnar, J. L., ed. The Atlas of Global Conservation: Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities to Make a Difference. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-26256-0.
  2. ↑ "Southern Great Lakes forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  • "Southern Great Lakes Forests". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund.
  • World Wildlife Fund, ed. (2001). "Southern Great Lakes forests". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08.
  • Central U.S. hardwood forests images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu
  • Southern Great Lakes forests
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