section_path: Geography/Biodiversity
section_name: Biodiversity
paragraph_text: Biodiversity
  
  Portugal is located on the Mediterranean Basin, the third most diverse hotspot of flora in the world. It is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Azores temperate mixed forests, Cantabrian mixed forests, Madeira evergreen forests, Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests, Northwest Iberian montane forests, and Southwest Iberian Mediterranean sclerophyllous and mixed forests. Over 22% of its land area is included in the Natura 2000 network. Eucalyptus, cork oak and maritime pine together make up 71% of the total forested area of continental Portugal.
  
  Geographical and climatic conditions facilitate the introduction of exotic species that later turn to be invasive and destructive to the native habitats. Around 20 percent of the total number of extant species in continental Portugal are exotic. Portugal is the second country in Europe with the highest number of threatened animal and plant species. Portugal as a whole is an important stopover for migratory bird species.
  
  The large mammalian species of Portugal (deer, Iberian ibex, wild boar, red fox, Iberian wolf and Iberian lynx) were once widespread throughout the country, but intense hunting, habitat degradation and growing pressure from agriculture and livestock reduced population on a large scale in the 19th and early 20th century, others, such as the Portuguese ibex were even led to extinction. Today, these animals are re-expanding their native range.
  
  The Portuguese west coast is part of the four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems of the ocean. This seasonal upwelling system typically seen during the summer months brings cooler, nutrient rich water up to the sea surface promoting phytoplankton growth, zooplankton development and the subsequent rich diversity in pelagic fish and other marine invertebrates. This makes Portugal one of the largest per capita fish-consumers in the world. 73% of the freshwater fish occurring in the Iberian Peninsula are endemic, the largest out of any region in Europe. Some protected areas of Portugal include: the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros, the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park, and the Montesinho Natural Park which hosts some of the only populations of Iberian wolf and Iberian brown bear.