East European forest steppe

East European forest steppe
The Central Black Earth Nature Reserve, an example of forest steppe terrain, in Kursk Oblast, Russia
Ecoregion territory (in purple)
Ecology
Realm	Palearctic
Biome	temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Borders	List Balkan mixed forests Central European mixed forests Kazakh forest steppe Pontic steppe Sarmatic mixed forests, Urals montane tundra and taiga
Geography
Area	727,269 km2 (280,800 sq mi)
Countries	List Russia Ukraine Moldova Romania, Bulgaria
Conservation
Conservation status	Critical/endangered
Protected	35,989 km² (5%)[1]

The East European forest steppe ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0419) is a patchwork of broadleaf forest stands and grasslands (steppe) that stretches 2,100 km across Eastern Europe from the Ural Mountains in Ural, through Povolzhye, Central Russia to the middle of Ukraine. There are isolated areas of similar character off the western end in eastern Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria.^[2]

The region forms a transition zone between the temperate forests to the north, and the steppe to the south. The forest-steppe is an area of Russia in which precipitation and evaporation are approximately equal.^[2] The ecoregion is in the Palearctic realm, with a Humid Continental climate. According to one definition of its boundaries, it covers 727,269 km² (280,800 sq mi).^[3]