FORESTS IN NORWAY,    FORESTS IN EUROPE

Due to the large latitudinal range of the country and the varied topography and climate, Norway has a larger number of different habitats than almost any other European country. There are approximately 60 000 species of different life forms in Norway and adjacent waters (excluding bacteria and virus). The total number of species includes 2 800 species of vascular plants, 450 species of birds (250 species nesting in Norway), 90 species of mammals. About 40,000 of these species have been described by science. The red list of 2006 encompasses 3,886 species. 17 species are listed mainly because they are endangered on a global scale, such as the European Beaver, even if the population in Norway is not seen as endangered. There are 430 species of fungi on the Red list; many of these are closely associated with the small remaining areas of old-growth forests. There are also 90 species of birds on the list and 25 species of mammals and 285 species are listed as critically endangered (CR) in Norway, among these are the gray wolf, the arctic fox (healthy population on Svalbard) and the pool frog.
The largest predator on land is the polar bear, while the brown bear is the largest predator on the Norwegian mainland, where the common moose is the largest herbivore animal. In Norway still exist some of the most charismatic species in Europe: muskox, wild reindeer, white-tailed sea eagle and killer whales.
Natural vegetation in Norway varies considerably, as can be expected in a country covering such a variation in latitude. There are generally fewer species of trees in Norway than in areas in western North America with a similar climate. This is because the migration routes after the ice age is more difficult in the north - south direction in Europe. Many imported plants have been able to ripen seeds and spread, and less than half of the 2,630 plant species in Norway today actually occur naturally in the country. About 210 species of plants growing in Norway are listed as endangered, and 13 species are endemic. The national parks in Norway are mostly located in mountain areas, and only about 1.7 % of the productive forests in the country are protected.

Some plants are classified as western due to their need for high humidity and/or low tolerance of winter frost; these will stay close to the south-western coast, with the northern limit near Ålesund; some examples are holly and bell heather. The mild temperatures along the coast allows for some surprises; some hardy species of palm grow even as far north as Sunnmøre, one of the largest remaining Linden forest in Europe grows at Flostranda in Stryn and planted deciduous trees such as horse chestnut and beech thrives north of the Arctic circle (as in Steigen).
Plants classified as eastern need comparatively more summer sunshine, with less humidity, but can tolerate cold winters; these will often occur in the southeast and inland areas, examples are Daphne mezereum, Fragaria viridis and spiked speedwell. Some eastern species common in Siberia grows in the river valleys of eastern Finnmark. There are also species which seems to be in-between these extremes, like the southern plants, where both winter and summer climate is important (such as pedunculate oak, European ash and dog's mercury); other plants are dependent on the type of bedrock.
There are a considerable number of alpine species in the mountains in Norway; these will not tolerate summers that are comparatively long and warm or can not compete with plants adapted to a longer and warmer growing season; many alpine plants are common in the North Boreal zone and some in the Middle Boreal zone, but their main area of distribution is on the alpine tundra in the Scandinavian mountains and on the Arctic tundra. Many of the hardiest species have adapted by using more than one summer to ripen seeds. Examples of alpine species are glacier buttercup, Draba lactea and Salix herbacea. Some alpine species have a wider distribution and also grow in Siberia, such as the Rhododendron lapponicum (Lapland rosebay). Other alpine species are common in the whole Arctic; some only grows in Europe, such as globe-flower.