Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests
Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests
The Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests span the Greater Khingan range of northeast China, across the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province, extending north across the Amur River into Russia's Amur Oblast. Dahurian larch is the dominant conifer, occupying more than half of the total forest area, joined by pine and spruce, while lower elevations and disturbed sites carry Mongolian oak, birch, poplar, hazel, alder, and elm. The setting is severely continental and subarctic, with short mild summers, a frost-free growing season of only about three months, permafrost in the coldest reaches, and winter temperatures that can fall to around -50 degrees Celsius. The forests are noted for their transitional "Daurian flora," blending Siberian taiga with Manchurian elements across roughly 1,200 vascular plant species, and shelter wildlife such as Siberian musk deer, sable, wolverine, and Amur moose; the cold-adapted Siberian salamander is the flagship species. Conservation here is shaped by fire history, including the catastrophic 1987 blaze that burned over a million hectares, and by protected reserves such as Nora and Zeya.
RESOLVE 693
Palearctic
95,907 sq mi
Temperate Conifer Forests
Landscape type
Temperate Conifer Forests
Plant region
Palearctic
Region footprint
95,907 sq mi
Habitat pressure
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
Source & care
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Use this as the broad planting pattern for the region: Temperate forests dominated by evergreen conifers, from coastal rainforests to montane pine and fir stands. Adapted to cool, moist or seasonally dry climates, they include some of the tallest and longest-lived trees on the planet. For garden decisions, pair that context with the plant list below, then narrow by your site's light, water, soil, and mature-size constraints.
Range & origins
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 52.0°N, 124.0°E.
Region through time
Modern footprint
RESOLVE 2017 maps 95,907 sq mi
This boundary is a modern ecological footprint for Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests, not a permanent line on the planet. It is useful for today's plant and wildlife context because it follows recurring vegetation, climate, landform, and disturbance patterns.
Why here
temperate conifer forests conditions
The region sits in the Palearctic realm and is classed as temperate conifer forests. Elevation, moisture, fire, soils, coasts, and human land use can all make the real landscape more varied than a single map color suggests.
Change pressure
Nature Could Recover
Plotwright shows this as the current RESOLVE footprint. Over decades to centuries, warming, disturbance, invasive species, land use, and restoration can move the living edge of a region even when the reference map stays fixed.
Planting collections
Finished planting recipes where every member can handle this region's climate range. The fit badge uses the collection's most sensitive plant, so a resilient collection is a safer starting point than any single standout.
Climate-resilient · 2 plants
Bright shade foundation
A part-shade planting with shrub structure and low foliage contrast.
Climate-resilient · 8 plants
Climate-resilient natives for warming zones (eastern NA)
A pollinator-supporting palette of eastern North American natives with broad hardiness ranges and wide native distributions. Built for gardeners who want a planting that can handle warming zones without giving up wildlife value.
Climate-resilient · 9 plants
Native pollinator border (eastern US)
A continuous-bloom native pollinator strip for eastern North America. Covers spring through frost with host + nectar plants spanning monarchs, native bees, hummingbirds, and specialist Lepidoptera. Little bluestem provides the matrix grass + Hesperiidae host.
Climate-resilient · 4 plants
Sunny pollinator border
A durable sunny border with summer bloom, seedheads, and upright winter texture.
Similar planting regions
Browse other regions with a similar hot, dry-summer rhythm. Their plant lists can suggest species and combinations worth comparing.
RESOLVE 689 - Palearctic
Alps conifer and mixed forests
The Alps conifer and mixed forests ecoregion follows the Alps mountain range across central Europe, spanning France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia. Its montane forests are a mix of conifers and broadleaves, with Norway spruce, silver fir, European larch, and mountain pine alongside European beech, and prostrate pine in the outer ranges. The region sits at the transition between the Mediterranean climates of southern Europe and the more humid, temperate Euro-Siberian zone, so its western reaches feel mild Atlantic air while the central area is continental. It is one of the richest places in Europe for plants, holding roughly 4,500 native vascular plant species including about 400 endemics, and the recovered Alpine ibex serves as its flagship species; around 27 percent of the ecoregion lies within protected areas such as Gran Paradiso and Vanoise national parks. For gardeners, several classic alpine ornamental genera are native here, including Campanula, Primula, Saxifraga, and Draba.
Temperate Conifer Forests
Zones 6b-10a
+4.8°F by 2070
57,712 sq mi
NNH tier 2
RESOLVE 690 - Palearctic
Altai montane forest and forest steppe
The Altai montane forest and forest steppe stretches some 1,500 km along the Altai Mountains across the border region where Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China meet, running from the Belukha Range in the northwest to the Gobi-Altai in the southeast. Its hallmark is a mosaic shaped by slope aspect: cooler, wetter north-facing slopes carry dense conifer forests of spruce and larch (including larch-cedar stands), while drier south-facing slopes give way to cold steppe and desert-steppe vegetation dominated by feather grass and Artemisia. The climate is cold and semi-arid, with cool summers and long, dry winters in which temperatures plunge well below freezing and precipitation stays low. Sitting at the crossroads of several ecoregions, altitudes, and climate zones, it harbors high biodiversity and supports a widely dispersed population of the globally threatened snow leopard, with protected areas including the Katun Nature Reserve. For gardeners, its hardy native flora includes ornamental grasses like the feather grass Stipa pennata and prairie junegrass (Koeleria).
Temperate Conifer Forests
Zones 4b-7b
+6.0°F by 2070
55,018 sq mi
NNH tier 3
RESOLVE 691 - Palearctic
Caledon conifer forests
The Caledon Conifer Forests cover upland Scotland in the United Kingdom, spanning the Northwest Highlands, the Grampian Mountains, and the Cairngorms, and reaching their highest point at Ben Nevis. The defining vegetation is remnant ancient pine forest dominated by Scots pine, accompanied by downy and silver birch, rowan, juniper, and aspen, with heather, dwarf shrub heath, montane willow scrub, and alpine vegetation on higher ground. The climate is warm-temperate with a strong oceanic influence, colder and drier toward the east, and the oceanic conditions hold the natural tree line to only about 500 to 600 meters. Native woodland survives across just a small fraction of Scotland, and these pinewoods shelter the endemic Scottish crossbill and the flagship western capercaillie, along with red squirrels, Scottish wildcats, and golden eagles. For gardeners, the region is the native home of ornamentally useful hardy genera such as Scots pine, birch, rowan, and juniper.
Temperate Conifer Forests
Zones 9b-11a
+2.2°F by 2070
8,494 sq mi
NNH tier 4
RESOLVE 692 - Palearctic
Carpathian montane forests
The Carpathian montane forests sweep across the great arc of the Carpathian Mountains, spanning Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine, with the largest share lying in Romania. Oak-dominated foothills give way to a montane belt of European beech, silver fir, Norway spruce, and sycamore, while above the timberline mountain pine, dwarf juniper, and green alder form dense thickets that grade into alpine meadows. The climate is temperate and continental, producing moderately cool, humid conditions that vary sharply with elevation. This range is a continental stronghold for large carnivores, holding some of Europe's most viable populations of brown bear, grey wolf, and Eurasian lynx, and it shelters more than a third of all European plant species along with endemics such as the Carpathian newt and Tatra pine vole. For gardeners, the region is also home to native ornamentals including heart-leaf comfrey and alpine saxifrages.
Temperate Conifer Forests
Zones 9a-9b
+5.7°F by 2070
48,257 sq mi
NNH tier 2
RESOLVE 694 - Palearctic
East Afghan montane conifer forests
The East Afghan montane conifer forests form a chain of disjunct woodlands along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, reaching from the eastern Hindu Kush through Nuristan and Paktia provinces south to the mountains above Quetta, across roughly 20,128 square kilometers at elevations from about 2,000 to 3,400 meters. Vegetation shifts with altitude: drier lower slopes carry chilgoza pine (Pinus gerardiana) and holm oak, denser mid-elevation stands include Himalayan cedar (Cedrus deodara), Morinda spruce (Picea smithiana), and Bhutan pine (Pinus wallichiana), while juniper woodland dominates the highest, driest reaches above about 3,100 meters. The climate is cold and semi-arid with large seasonal temperature swings and modest annual precipitation. These forests shelter the near-threatened markhor (Pakistan's national animal) as well as snow leopards, and notably hold the Ziarat juniper stand, described as the second-largest of its kind in the world with specimens over 1,500 years old; only about 9 percent of the ecoregion is officially protected, with illegal logging and overgrazing the chief threats. For gardeners, several conifers native here, including deodar cedar and Bhutan pine, are widely grown as ornamentals.
Temperate Conifer Forests
Zones 6b-11b
+5.8°F by 2070
7,756 sq mi
NNH tier 4
RESOLVE 695 - Palearctic
Elburz Range forest steppe
The Elburz Range forest steppe is an arid, mountainous ecoregion that arcs across northern Iran along the southern and eastern slopes of the Alborz (Elburz) Mountains, running south of the Caspian Sea from near the Azerbaijan border toward Turkmenistan. Its slopes are forested chiefly with juniper (Juniperus excelsa), a tree well suited to the dry mountain climate, alongside an understory of pistachio, almond, maple, and cotoneaster shrubs, while exceptional alpine flora persists at the highest elevations. The climate is arid with cold winters, and annual precipitation is modest and falls largely as winter snow. The range shelters the Syrian brown bear, Persian leopard, roe and red deer, wild boar, and birds such as golden eagles, though logging, overgrazing, and dam construction have reduced its forests, with protection afforded by sites including Golestan National Park. For gardeners, the region is the native home of cold-hardy juniper, maple, almond, and cotoneaster, several of which are familiar ornamental and fruiting genera.
Temperate Conifer Forests
Zones 8a-11b
+4.4°F by 2070
24,425 sq mi
NNH tier 4
Sources & citations
Cite this page
For lesson plans, articles, or regional planting notes that use this Plotwright page. To cite the underlying ecoregion framework or a specific editorial profile, use the source cards below.
Plotwright. (n.d.). Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests (Da Hinggan-Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests). Retrieved 2026, June 14, from https://plotwright.garden/regions/resolve-693
Sources for this region
This page cites Plotwright first for the compiled view, then lists the upstream framework, climate, and editorial source pages so readers can cite the original material directly.
RESOLVE 2017 Terrestrial Ecoregions (Dinerstein et al.)
Primary ecoregion framework
Backs 4 fields
RESOLVE id
Biome + realm
Area
NNH tier