The North Central Appalachians ecoregion has a severe mid-latitude humid continental climate, marked by warm summers and snowy, cold winters. The mean annual temperature ranges from roughly 3 °C to 8 °C with an average of 1082 mm annual precipitation.[4] The Northern Appalachian Plateau and Highlands ecoregion, also a severe mid-latitude humid continental climate, has a mean annual temperature of 7 °C, seeing an average of 969 mm of precipitation.[4]
Flora
Most of this forest was cleared in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Although all individual trees species still remain, their quantities and distribution are radically different from the forest's original state. The pre-settlement forests were predominantly hemlock (Tsuga), white pine, and northern hardwoods forests. Most of these stands were dominated by eastern hemlock and beech.[2] The Finger Lakes area has a particularly rich mixture of woodland, while the pinewoods in the Pocono Mountains are a unique habitat.[5]
Wildlife of the forest includes a wide variety of animals, reptiles, fish and birds. Bobcats, which are known to live in a wide variety of habitats, including boreal coniferous and mixed forests in the north like the Allegheny Highland forest.[8] The American black bear is common throughout the Pacific Northwest's forests and mountains. They are also found in forests throughout Canada, Alaska, the Rocky Mountains, the upper Midwest, parts of the southern U.S., the Appalachian Mountains, and down into Mexico.[9]Red foxes prefer areas where different habitats—forests, fields, orchards and brush lands—blend together. Gray foxes also prefer a landscape mosaic, but will thrive in dense northern hardwood and mixed forests where they often inhabit thickets and swamps.[10]Coyotes can be found in a variety of habitats including fields, plains, and bushy areas.[11]
Porcupines are native to the coniferous and mixed-forest habitats of Canada, the northeastern and western regions of the United States and northern Mexico.[12]Beavers and river otters are known to live in ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes, streams and adjacent wetland areas[13] and groundhogs are most commonly found along forest edges, meadows, open fields, roads and streams. They sometimes also live in dense forests.[14] The snowshoe hare lives in dense woodlands and forest bogs.[15]Elk inhabit a wide range of habitats, from open areas such as marshy meadows, grasslands, river flats, and aspen parkland, to coniferous forests, brushy clear cuts, or forest edges, and semi-desert areas.[16] The preferred habitat for the Allegheny woodrat is rocky areas in deciduous forests.[17]
White-tailed deer are highly adaptable species and thrive in a variety of habitats. The areas that provide the most suitable environment include a mixture of hardwoods, croplands, brush lands and pasturelands.[18] The striped skunk live in wooded areas, deserts and plains, and have even adapted to urban and suburban environments.[19] The big brown bat is found in virtually every American habitat ranging from timberline meadows to lowland deserts, though it is most abundant in deciduous forest areas.[20]Chipmunk inhabit various forest types, from timberline slopes and rock-bordered alpine meadows downward through coniferous and deciduous forests to dry scrublands and sagebrush deserts.[21]
The snapping turtle is found in a wide variety of aquatic habitats, preferably with slow-moving water and a soft muddy or sandy bottom. They inhabit almost any permanent or semi-permanent body of water, including marshes, creeks, swamps, bogs, pools, lakes, streams, rivers, and impoundment sand.[22] Lastly, the timber rattlesnake lives in a variety of habitats, including mountainous or hilly forests, hardwood or pine forests, swamps and river floodplains, lowland cane thickets, and agricultural fields.[23]
