FORESTS IN ROMANIA, FORESTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES 
Romania is covered by wealthy and diverse vegetation, wherein the forests stand for about 27 % of the national territory. From the top of the mountains to the seashore one can meet shrub and rocky vegetation, impressive coniferous forests, mixed spruce, fir and beech old growth forests, flowered meadows and ancient forests in hills and plain regions, oak or mixed broadleaved forests on plains, fringing forests along flooded meadows, halophytic or costal plants alongside the large rivers or the seashore, wetland vegetation or boundless reed beds within swamps and the Danube Delta. This huge diversity comes from the country’s geographical location, wherein four various climates interfere: continental, south European, sub-Mediterranean and central European, in Romania can be found therefore 5 different geographic bioregions (alpine, continental, pontic, panonian, stepic), highest number found in one single European country.
The distribution of the forests on types of relief is illustrated in the next diagram, 37.2 % from the forests are in the mountain areas (Carpathian Mountains), 51.9 % of forests are located in the hill areas and 10.9 % from the forests are situated in the plain areas.
In Romania’s forests, the most sensitive ecosystem types are the steppe forest ones, where the forests are exposed to dry periods and to the climate changing effects.The distribution of tree species in forests, illustrated below is: 32.1% from the forests are constituted from beech, 30.1 % are constituted from resinous trees species, 17.7% are constituted from oak tree forests, 20.1% broadleaved tree species.
The distribution of the forests by regimes highlights the orientation of the Romanian forestry in applying the method of seed-based regeneration of older stands or planting new seedlings after clear cuttings in order to obtain diversified and uneven aged stands with high ecologic stability and valuable industrial timber grades.
In the last century the forests health is affected by the natural and anthropic factors. The main factors that are affecting the forests, generating the dying phenomena are long dry periods (climate change), industrial pollution (transboundary in some cases), abusive grazing, forest logging using improper technologies, etc. The most affected species by abnormal dying phenomena are: oak and fir.
Due to the climate change some changing in the forest vegetation levels are taking place, in some mountain ecosystems for example beech forests are advancing in altitude taking the place of former fir tree forests.
The distribution of the forests on different age categories is also an interesting factor, in Romania an important category being constituted from the forests with more than 100 years old. In this category are included also the pristine forests, a comprehensive study conducted by the Romanian Forest Research Institute did identify more than 200.000 hectares of pristine forests.
Romanian pristine forest
