The Atlantic Biogeographic Region is the

biogeographic Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...

region of Europe bordering the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

Extent

The Atlantic Region borders on the North Sea and North-east Atlantic Ocean. It includes all of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, parts of Germany, Denmark, Belgium and France, and the northern shores of Spain and Portugal. The land is generally low elevation and flat, and never more than from the sea, with winds generally blowing from the west. As a result, it has an oceanic climate with mild winters and cool summers. There is moderate rainfall year-round.

Environment

The long, indented coastline includes many habitats. Some areas have cliffs and rocky headlands with narrow tidal inlets, while others have sheltered bays with inter-tidal mudflats and sandy beaches. The land was ice-covered until 10,000 years ago, and species diversity is still lower than other European biogeographic regions, but wildlife is abundant, including large flocks of migratory birds and many marine organisms fed by nutrients carried by the

Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension the North Atlantic Current, North Atlantic Drift, is a warm and swift Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida a ...

from the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. The land has been drastically modified by humans with forests cleared to make way for farming and large urbanized areas. Pollution is a problem on both land and sea, and over-fishing is also a threat.

Notes

Sources

* * {{authority control Environment of Europe Biogeography