Tree species richness
Due to its climatic, geologic and topographic diversity, France has rich and diversified forests.
Map 1 represents the number of tree species per sample plot, for the campaigns 2013 to 2017. It shows the local richness in tree species. The average number of forest tree species observed on one plot is 5 and the most frequent situation is of 4 different tree species. The Landes of Gascogne and the Mediterranean regions show the lowest tree species richness (between 1 and 5). The Landes of Gascogne forest is mainly covered by monospecific Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) plantations; the Mediterranean region by evergreen oak (Quercus ilex) or pubescent oak (Quercus pubescens) coppices or Scots pine or Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) high forests.
Shrub species richness
Map 2 shows the number of shrub species per sample plot, for the campaigns 2013 to 2017. It indicates the local richness in shrub species. The number of shrub species is usually higher than tree species. This number varies from 0 to 31 and the average is 6.2. Unlike for tree species richness, the Mediterranean region has a high shrub species diversity. This is partly due to the important part of open canopy forest in this area.
