Eastern Eurasia

Eastern Eurasia is the easternmost section of the Palearctic realm divided into 7 major subrealms – Altai-Sayan Mountains, East Asian Deserts, Himalayas & Tibetan Plateau, Mongolian Grasslands, Central East Asian Forests, Northeast Asian Forests, and Japanese Islands -- with 17 bioregions based on the Bioregions 2020 framework. This subrealm division is exceptionally diverse, ranging from the forested Altai-Sayan Mountains in the northwest to the great East Asian Deserts of western China and the alpine grasslands of the Himalayas & Tibetan Plateau, from the Mongolian Grasslands to the Japanese Islands. The Northeast Asian Forests subrealm includes the Korean Peninsula and eastern China and also include the Ussuri rainforest in southeastern Russia, which is especially important for biodiversity, providing a refuge for over 100 endangered and threatened species including Amur tigers and leopards, moon bears, giant black vultures, racoon dogs, and many other rare species. The Central Asian Forests subrealm includes the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and the temperate forests of the Chang Jiang (Yantze) plain in China, as well as the Hengduan Mountains that extend into the Tibetan Plateau.