1. ROM Â NIA BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL SITES AnthemAnthem: Deşteapt ă -te, române! Awaken, Romanian!Deşteapt ă -te, române!

2. Situated in the northeastern portion of the Balkan Peninsula, the country is halfway between the equator and the North Pole and equidistant from the westernmost part of Europe--the Atlantic Coast— and the most easterly--the Ural Mountains.Balkan PeninsulaNorth PoleAtlantic CoastUral Mountains Romania has 3,195 kilometers of border. BulgariaBulgaria lies to the south, HungaryHungary to the west. Ukraine to the north and east, Republic of Moldavia to the east. In the southeast, 245 kilometers of Black Sea coastline provide an important outlet to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.Black SeaMediterranean SeaAtlantic Ocean GEOGRAPHIC POSITION AREA = 238,391 square kilometers; ROMANIA is the twelfth largest country In Europe.

3. ROMANIA PHYSICAL MAP MOLDAVIAN TABLELAND DOBRUJAN TABLELAND ROMANIAN FIELD GETIC TABLELAND SUB-CARPATHIANS THE BLACK SEA TRANSYLVANIAN PLATEAU WESTERN HILLS UKRAINE MOLDOVA UKRAINE BULGARIA SERBIA HUNGARIA

4. Enclosed within the great arc of the Carpathians lie the undulating plains and low hills of the Transylvanian Plateau--the largest tableland in the country and the center of Romania. To the south and east of the Carpathians, the Sub-Carpathians form a fringe of rolling terrain ranging from 396 to 1,006 meters in elevation. This terrain is matched in the west by the slightly lower Western Hills. The symmetry of Romania's relief continues with the Getic Tableland to the south of the SubCarpathians, the Moldavian Tableland in the east between the SubCarpathians and the Prut River, and the Dobrujan Tableland in the southeast between the Danube and the Black Sea.Transylvanian PlateauSub-CarpathiansWestern HillsMoldavian TablelandDobrujan Tableland Beyond the Carpathian foothills and tablelands, the plains spread south and west. In the southern parts of the country, the lower Danube Plain is divided by the Olt River; east of the river lies the Wallachian Plain, and to the west is the Oltenian or Western Plain.Wallachian PlainOltenian or Western Plain Romania's lowest land is found on the northern edge of the Dobruja region in the Danube Delta.DobrujaDanube Delta THE RELIEF

5. Făgăraş Mountains (Romanian: Munţii Făgăraşului), are the highest mountains of the Southern Carpathians, in Romania.RomanianSouthern CarpathiansRomania The highest peaks are Moldoveanu (2544 m), Negoiu (2535 m)MoldoveanuNegoiu

6. The Ceahlău Massif is one of the most renowned mountain ranges of Romania. It is located in the Eastern Carpathians chain, in Neamţ County, in the Moldavia region,,,Romanian Olympus."mountain rangesRomaniaEastern CarpathiansNeamţ CountyMoldavia

8. CLIMATE Romania has a temperate-continental climate of transitional type, specific to Central Europe, with four clearly defined seasons. Local differences are caused by altitude and by slight oceanic (to the west), mediterranean (to the south-west) and continental (to the east) influences. In winter time the mean temperature falls below - 3°C and in summertime it ranges betwen 22°C and 24°C. The mean annual temperatures is 11°C in the south of the country and 8°C in the north of the country. The absolute minimum temperature registered was - 38.5°C at Bod in the Brasov Depression, and the absolute maximum temperature was + 44.5°C (at Ion Sion in the B ǎ r ǎ gan Plain). Annual rainfall average slightly decreases from west to east; mean annual rainfalls total 637 mm, with higher values in the mountain areas (1,400 - 1,000 mm/year) and lower valuea in the B ǎ r ǎ gan Plain (500 mm/year), Dobrudja and the Danube Delta (400 mm/year).

9. RIVERS The most important of these rivers are the Mureş River, the Olt River, the Prut, the Siret River, the Ialomiţa River, the Someş River, and the Argeş River. Romania's rivers primarily flow east, west, and south from the central crown of the Carpathians. In the east, river waters are collected by the Siret and the Prut. In the south, the rivers flow directly into the Danube, and in the west, waters are collected by the Tisza on Hungarian territory.Mureş RiverOlt RiverPrutSiret River Ialomiţa RiverSomeş RiverArgeş RiverSiretPrutTisza

10. LAKE Lake Bucura is a glacier cirque lake, situated in the Retezat Mountains, in Romania.glaciercirqueRetezat MountainsRomania Lake Sfânta Ana or Lake Saint Anne (Romanian: Lacul Sfânta Ana) is a crater lake located in the volcanic crater named "Puciosul" of the Eastern Carpathians, near Tuşnad in the Natural Reserve of Mohoş, Harghita County, Romania.Saint AnneRomaniancrater lake volcanic craterEastern CarpathiansTuşnadHarghita CountyRomania

11. FLORA AND FAUNA About a quarter of the country's area is covered by forests, many of which are in the mountains. Fir and spruce are the most common trees in the mountains, while the lower slopes have forests of deciduous trees such as beech and oak. The plains and tablelands have grass vegetation with scattered trees. The Danube delta has vast areas of reeds and other aquatic plants.

12. VE GETATION Three main lowland vegetation zones, comprising: a) a steppe zone, in the south- east, largely an agricultural landscape but with small areas of herbaceous vegetation dominated by grasses (Stipa and Festuca) and sparse bushes; b) a forest-steppe zone, in the south-east and west, with similar vegetation to (a) but with sparse isolated forests dominated by Quercus pubescens and Q. pedunculiflora in the south, and Q. robur and Q. dalechampii, with Acer tataricum, in the north; and c) a forest zone on the higher plains and on lower areas in the south and west, on the Transylvanian tableland, and in the north- east, dominated mainly by the oaks Quercus robur, Q, dalechampii, Q. frainetto and Q. cerris. The vegetation varies altitudinally: a broadleaved forest, either a mixed forest with deciduous oak (Q. petraea), at 300-600 m; beech forest (Fagus sylvatica) at 600–1200 m; in the Carpathian Mts a boreal belt of Picea abies forest, 1200–1700 m, and a subalpine belt, with Pinus mugo, Rhododendron myrtifolium, Vaccinium and Juniperus, on mountains at 1650–2000 m; and an alpine belt with dwarf shrubs of Salix and other subshrubs, and alpine grassland, over 2000m. There is also extensive wetland vegetation, especially around the Danube Delta, and coastal, sub-Mediterranean vegetation. Forests still cover c. 16% of the country.

13. FAUNA Wild animal life is abundant in most parts of Romania. The larger animals, found chiefly in the Carpathian Mountains, include the wild boar, wolf, lynx, fox, bear, chamois, roe deer, and goat. In the plains, typical animals are the squirrel, hare, badger, and polecat. Many species of birds are abundant; the Danube delta region, now partly a nature preserve, is a stopover point for migratory birds. Among species of fish found in the rivers and offshore are pike, sturgeon, carp, flounder, herring, salmon, perch, and eel.

14. PICEA ABIES SPRUCE

17. BIRCH BETULA PENDULA

36. This material has been realized with the financial support from the Comenius Lifelong Learning Programme. The contents of this piblication represents the author’ s exclusive responsabiliy. A N and the European Commision are not responsable for the way the content of this information will be used.