Swedish and Norwegian biologists discover boreal rainforest in Jämtland

A group of Swedish and Norwegian biologists identified a boreal rainforest in Jämtland, Sweden.

While these types of forests typically appear in high-rainfall coastal regions of Norway and North America, researchers found that similar conditions exist within Sweden. Raul Vicente, a lichen expert, and his colleagues identified specific moisture-loving lichens and mosses that characterize boreal rainforests. The team located species such as American decay lichen and Norwegian bark lichen in the Jämtland region.

The researchers plan to describe these findings in a scientific publication. Alexander Nilsson of the Norwegian nature conservation foundation Biofokus noted that much of the natural environment in Sweden and Norway still contains undiscovered features.