What is Palearctic?
[[Image:Ecozone Palearctic.svg|thumb|300px|The Palearctic ecozone.]] The '''Palearctic''' (or 'Palaearctic') [[ecozone]] is one of the eight dividing the Earth's surface. The Palearctic is by far the largest ecozone. It includes the [[terrestrial ecoregion]]s of [[Europe]], [[Asia]] north of the [[Himalaya]]n foothills, [[northern Africa]], and the northern and central parts of the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. ==Major ecological regions== The Palearctic ecozone includes mostly [[boreal]] and [[temperate]] [[climate]] [[ecoregion]]s, which run across [[Eurasia]] from western Europe to the [[Bering Strait]]. ===Euro-Siberian region=== The boreal and temperate Euro-Siberian region is the Palearctic's largest [[biogeography|biogeographic]] region, which transitions from [[tundra]] in the northern reaches of [[Russia]] and [[Scandinavia]] to the vast [[taiga]], the boreal coniferous forests which run across the continent. South of the taiga are a belt of temperate [[deciduous|broadleaf]] and mixed forests and temperate [[conifer|coniferous]] forests. This vast Euro-Siberian region has many shared plant and animal species, and many similarities with the temperate and boreal regions of the [[Nearctic]] of [[North America]]. Eurasia and North America were often connected by the Bering land bridge, and have very similar [[mammal]] and bird fauna, with many Eurasian species having moved into North America, and fewer North American species having moved into Eurasia. Many zoologists consider the Palearctic and Nearctic to be a single '''[[Holarctic]]''' ecozone. The Palearctic and Nearctic also share many plant species. ===Mediterranean Basin=== The lands bordering the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in southern Europe, north Africa, and western Asia are home to the Mediterranean [[Basin (geology)|basin]] ecoregions, which together constitute world's largest and most diverse mediterranean climate region of the world, with generally mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The Mediterranean basin's mosaic of forests, woodlands, a