Riparian forests (floodplain forests) cover 50–100 m wide shore embankments running parallel to a riverbed or old rivers (oxbow lakes). Flood water moves rapidly over them at the beginning of the flood, leaving behind the largest, heaviest parts of the substances it carried along as sediments. The embankments slightly higher than the surrounding area have thus been created over time from the...

Old fresh boreo-nemoral forests, whose tree layer is dominated by linden, oak, maple, elm, or ash. This habitat type does not include species-rich mixed spruce forests, where broadleaf tree species also grow (9050), or cliff forests growing under the slopes of the klint (9180). In Estonia, broad-leaved forests with lush undergrowth are remnants of the warmer and wetter climate of thousands of...

This very wide habitat type, which has come to be called the western taiga elsewhere in Europe, includes, in particular, old-growth forests which have had little to no human impact, as well as younger stands growing on recent burnt woodlands that have regenerated naturally. Many endangered species, especially mosses, lichens, fungi, and invertebrates, find habitats in old natural forests. In...

This habitat type differs from the types of transition mires and quaking bogs (7140) and active raised bogs (7110) with a significantly denser and taller tree layer (tree canopies cover at least 30% of the sky – canopy cover 0.3 – and the average height of the trees is more than four metres). As the bog woodland is an intermediate stage between the fen forest turning into a bog forest, the moor...

In Estonia, this habitat type includes, in particular, the species-rich broad-leaved forests of the rubble slopes of the cliffed coast with elm, ash, linden, maple, grey alder, and black alder. The undergrowth in these forests is also rich in species, as the different parts of the rubble slope offer different growing conditions: while in the upper part, the soil can dry out in some places in...

A large-scale habitat type, which includes our paludifying forests, (true) fen forests, and swamp forests. They all grow on flat land, in flat depressions, or at the foot of slopes where groundwater is close to the ground. The groundwater level is variable: in spring, it is high, often reaching the surface, while in summer, it drops deeper. In paludifying forests, the thickness of the peat horizon...

This habitat type includes both the species-rich dry and fresh grasslands on limestone-poor dry or moderately moist soils and the even more species-rich dry boreal grasslands. Compared to the previous habitat type (6210), this habitat type has plant species that are less demanding in terms of nutrients. As with grasslands in general, the vegetation has developed under the influence of long-term...

Heritage communities with species-rich vegetation, where open meadow areas alternate with small tree and shrub patches. The diverse light and humidity conditions created in this way allow both meadow and forest plants to grow here side by side. Trees are often represented by broadleaf species (oak, ash, linden, maple), and there are many rare and endangered meadow species, including orchids, in...

This habitat type also includes low to moderately fertilised grasslands. As fertilisation significantly reduces species diversity, such meadows have no conservation value in Estonia, but in some cases, they can have value as buffer zones between and around other more valuable habitats. This habitat type also includes arable land that has been overgrowing for more than ten years, where the natural...

Alluvial meadows, or flooded meadows – our meadow communities with the lushest plant growth – are located exclusively on the temporarily flooded floodplains along the rivers. They owe their lushness to the very fertile soil, which is improved by the nutrient-rich sediments carried by floods. Depending on the height of the ground (the position on the floodplain), as well as the flow rate of the...