Eastern Eurasia

Region | Realm

Eastern Eurasia is the easternmost section of the Palearctic realm, divided into six major subrealms—East Asian Deserts, Tibetan Plateau, Mongolian Grasslands, Central East Asian Forests, Northeast Asian Forests, and Japanese Islands—with 16 bioregions based on the One Earth Bioregions Framework. This subrealm division is exceptionally diverse, from the great East Asian Deserts of western China and the alpine grasslands of the Tibetan Plateau to the Mongolian Grasslands and the Japanese Islands. The Northeast Asian Forests subrealm includes the Korean Peninsula and eastern China and also includes 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, raccoon dogs, and many other rare species. The Central East Asian Forests subrealm includes the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and the temperate forests of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) Plain in China.