Vegetation of Spain

Potential occupation of Iberian forests

The vegetation of Spain varies depending on 3 factors such as relief, climate or latitude, among others. The Spanish territory is divided into different phytogeographical regions (boreoalpine, eurosiberian, Mediterranean and Macaronesian —the latter, represented in Spain by the Canary Islands—), each one with its own floristic characteristics resulting largely from the interaction of different biotic and abiotic factors..

Within European territory, Spain has the largest number of plant species (7,600 vascular plants) of all European countries. In Spain there are 17,804 million trees and each year an average of 284 million more grow.

Boreoalpine Region

Mixed forest of fir and beech, present in some areas of the Pyrenees.

It corresponds to the high mountain vegetation and is delimited by altitude. It is highly adapted to low temperatures, and with greater rainfall than the lower areas. There is a very reduced biological cycle because of the snow. There are different regions depending on the altitude. There are three domains.

Alpine Mountain

Meadows on pine trees Pinus uncinata in the National Park of Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici.

Represented in the Pyrenees from 1200-1300 m s. no. m.. The vegetation forms different strata or altitudinal floors.

In the subalpine, between 1,200 and 2,400 m, the climate is quite humid and gives rise to dense vegetation, especially conifers, such as fir and black pine. The fir grows in the most humid areas of this region with dense forests, which means that the undergrowth receives little insolation and is not very rich. The black pine is smaller and has a thick trunk, the insolation is greater. Its associated understory is made up of blueberries, rhododendrons, bearberry, and juniper. This vegetation, when the black pine forests are cleared by human action, thickens and forms a thick scrub. Its destruction leads to the formation of a meadow of Festuca scoparia on limestone soil or of Nardus stricta on acid soil. If there is a great abundance of carbonates in the soil, the undergrowth of the black pine forest becomes markedly impoverished.

The next level is the alpine, between 2,300 and 3,000 m. The dominant vegetation is formed by meadows of small plants with abundant bulbous plants, with a short life cycle, dependent on the time when the snow is removed (6-7 months). Depending on the humidity and the type of soil, there are other botanical species.

The last floor, the snow floor, is the level that is more than 3000 m high, it is located in specific spaces, without occupying important surfaces in the Pyrenees or in any other part of Spain. The low slope areas are covered with snow all year round and vegetation is non-existent. Where there is a slope, the snow slides and the ground is not covered, associations of small rupicolous plants appear, mainly mosses or lichens. In the points where there is a defective drainage, the melting water from the snow causes the constitution of peat bogs with their characteristic vegetation of sphagnum and Carex.

Transition Mountain

Cytisus oromediterraneus: piornal in flower in the Guadarrama mountain range

It includes a large part of the mountains of the Peninsula outside the expansion of the Pyrenees. In the Mountains of transition towards the Atlantic it is only limited to the highest parts within the Cantabrian mountain range, its vegetation is poorer than in the Pyrenees because the subalpine floor disappears, there are small thickets of shrubs, Small size:(Juniperus communis ssp. nana), heather (Calluna vulgaris), heather and genistas, similar to landa Atlantic, which at higher altitudes give way to the alpine meadow. Where the siliceous soil predominates, moorland develops and in the higher areas the meadows, when the soil is limestone the vegetation is discontinuous. In the mountains of transition to the Mediterranean it occurs in all the mountain ranges below the Cantabrian, that is, in the Sierra Morena and Central system. The main characteristic is that there is irregular rainfall and dry season and the subalpine floor does not exist. Above the deciduous forest is given the scrub. In the Central system, from 1900-1950 masl when the last feet of Scots pine disappear, the dwarf juniper, which already abounds along with the pine, becomes increasingly abundant and dense, constituting a relatively closed subshrub formation. Above are meadows of Nardus stricta and Festuca indigesta.

In the northern part of the Iberian system, still very Atlantic due to its vegetation, the supraforest floor, which also begins around 1900 m, appears in contact with the beech forests and mainly presents a supraforest moorland of broom ( Cytisus scoparius) and dwarf juniper.

Eurosiberian Region

The predominant forests in the Eurosiberian region are beech forests, heaths and mixed forests. There are also birch trees.

Mediterranean region

In the most characteristic Mediterranean forests, different species of the genus Quercus predominate, such as cork oaks, holm oaks, holm oaks, holm oaks, Quercus canariensis and Quercus canariensis gall oaks.

In the Mediterranean scrub, fabaceae predominate, such as brooms or brooms and thyme-lipped

The Mediterranean mountain

To the south and east of the indicated sectors, the areas that can be considered as high mountains are not very important, the Sierra Nevada being the largest. Here the fundamental climatic characteristic is the existence of a summer that can be considered dry. The montane floor in contact with the supraforest is made up of southern trees, particularly the holm oak, the gall oak and in the most humid sectors the marojo.

The supraforest floor itself begins at approximately 2000 m s. no. m. The orophilous Mediterranean species in the form of a spiny pad are especially important in it, many of them also present in the high North African mountains. The scree and bare rock occupy large areas, in relation to the climate and intense grazing. Meadows with abundant Central European plants and even a few species occur only at the bottom of the valley and other places with high humidity.

Canary Islands

Laurisilva Forest, in the wet area of Tenerife

Xerole habitat with tabaibas and cardones, Puntagorda, La Palma

The Canary Islands archipelago is part of the Macaronesian phytogeographic region, therefore having many species in common with other Atlantic archipelagos such as the Azores and Madeira Islands. Its vegetation has a high rate of endemism, with more than 500 endemic plant species. Many are relicts of species widely distributed in Southern Europe and North Africa during the Cenozoic or Tertiary Era.

The vegetation is highly influenced by the dry tropical climate and the influence of the trade winds that blow from northeast to southwest, giving rise to certain areas of high humidity and relatively high rainfall. This gives rise to important contrasts in rainfall on the islands of greater relief. The vegetation of the Canary Islands is conditioned by rainfall, altitude, volcanic soil, temperatures, human action and orientation with respect to the winds. There is division by floors:

• Arid Basal: where the least amount of rains takes place with less than 300 mm, the average temperatures is 20 °C, there are no trees and yes a discontinuous bush of xerophilic type, one of the predominant species is the ricino^{[chuckles]required]} and the avious^{[chuckles]required]}, also highlights the chumbera and pita in the 400 m to barlovento and 700 to sotavento^{[chuckles]required]}
• From transition to the mountain floor: 100 m above the basal, precipitation is between 350 and 400 mm, the average temperature is 15 and 19 °C. It is an area deeply transformed by man for crops, in it remains of sainares, acebuche or wild olive, palm trees and dredging are preserved.
• Wet floor of the north side of the central-western islands: from 500-600 to 1200 m, with average temperatures between 13 and 15 °C and rains over 1000 m. It is related to environmental humidity and the existence of a cloud bank whose steam absorbs the leaves. This is called horizontal or invisible rain. There is a very dense forest, perennifolio composed of lauraceae species, laurisilva. Good masses of laurisilva are preserved on the island of La Gomera (Garajonay), Tenerife and La Palma.
• Semi-eco: it develops as the humidity goes down and can reach up to 2000 m, as there is no humidity the lauraceae species disappear and leaves way to the brezos and next to them, as there is less humidity, the canary pine appears and sotobosque of tomilles and jars.
• Dry flat in height: from the 2000 msnm with more than 500 mm per year, only a very open scrub is developed, rich in flora and a species with the development of its roots quite powerful, based on the search for humidity, such as retama and broom. As we ascend above 2800 m the vegetation is very residual predominating plants in the form of small bushes.