Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests
Hanson's Point in the Red River Gorge, Kentucky
Ecology
Biome	Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
Borders	Allegheny Highlands forests Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests Southeastern mixed forests Central U.S. hardwood forests Southern Great Lakes forests
Bird species	200
Mammal species	73
Geography
Area	192,200 km2 (74,200 sq mi)
Country	United States
States	Pennsylvania Maryland Ohio West Virginia Kentucky Virginia Tennessee Alabama Georgia
Conservation
Habitat loss	14.8%
Protected	8.37%

The Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests is an ecoregion of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund. It consists of mesophytic plants west of the Appalachian Mountains in the Southeastern United States.

This ecoregion consists of the following EPA level III ecoregions:

This ecoregion is located in the plains and hill country west of the Appalachians in northwest Alabama and east central Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, western North Carolina and Virginia, most of West Virginia, western Maryland, southeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. These forests are known for their rich diversity of plants and animals, which is due to several contributing factors, especially that the area was an unglaciated refugium for many species. It shares species with the high elevation Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests to the east, the hardwood forests to the west, and the mixed hardwood/conifer forests to the south.

The climate varies from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south.