Natural history of Minnesota

The natural history of Minnesota covers many plant and animal species in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The continental climate and location of Minnesota at the physiographic intersection of the Laurentian and the Interior Plains influences its plant and animal life. Three of North America's biomes converge in Minnesota: prairie grasslands in the southwestern and western parts of the state, the eastern temperate deciduous forests in the east-central and the southeast and the coniferous forest in the north-central and northeast.

An ecoregion is an area uniquely defined by environmental conditions and natural features. Ecoregions in Minnesota were largely influenced by the unique glacial history, geology, soil type, land use, and climate of the state. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and World Wildlife Fund maintain separate classifications of the state's ecoregions. Although different, they generally agree on delineating between the coniferous forest in the north-central portion and the Arrowhead, a temperate deciduous forest in the central and southeast, and the tallgrass prairie in the southern and western portions of the state. The northern coniferous forests are a vast wilderness of pine and spruce trees mixed with patchy stands of birch and poplar.