page_title: Biodiversity of Albania
section_title: Wetlands
hierarchical_section_title: Biodiversity of Albania / Ecosystems / Wetlands
caption_attribution_description: English: Reserve Patok, Albania. Part of the area that is normally locked and can not be entered. Deutsch: Naturschutzgebiet Patok, Albanien. Teil des Gebietes das abgesperrt ist und normal nicht betreten werden kann.
context_page_description: For a small country, Albania is characterised by a considerable wealth of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and habitats with contrasting floral and faunal species, defined in an area of 28,748 square kilometres. Most of the country is predominantly of Mediterranean character, comprehending the country's center and south, while the alpine affinity is more visible in the northeast.
  Apart the diversity of topography and climate, the direct proximity of Albania to the Mediterranean Sea and the significant location within the European continent have created favorable conditions for appearance of a vast array of flora and fauna with an immense quality, which, however, led the country to be recognised as an important biodiversity hotspot in the continent. The number of globally globally threatened faunal species in Albania is high with an integral part of more than 181 species, ranking seventh in the Mediterranean Basin.
  Albania is predominantly mountainous and hilly with the rapid landscape change from marine to alpine within a limited distance.
context_section_description: Albania possesses a wealth of wetland ecosystems supporting diverse and unique habitats. These wetlands contain respectively numerous ecological commodities and services but are under an important charge due to the rapid urbanization and industrialization. Marshes, reed beds and lakes are found in all regions, along with rivers and deltas while wetlands are distributed from the high internally mountainous zone in the southeast to the coastline in the west.
  The richest wetland regions are more particularly in the coastal plain along the entire west border of Albania that is shaped by the Adriatic and Ionian Sea. The wetland complex of Butrint, Karavasta and Narta represents one of the most important coastal wetland sites of Albania. The lagoons are separated from the sea by rather narrow sandy bars, which continuously change in size and shape. Other important lagoons include the Patoku Lagoon, Kune-Vain Lagoon, Viluni Lagoon and many others.
  Albania is home to several of the most important lakes in Southern Europe. Four lakes are apportioned with its neighbouring countries for instance Lake Shkodër with Montenegro, Lake Ohrid with North Macedonia, Small Lake Prespa with Greece and Lake Prespa with North Macedonia and Greece. All of them are nevertheless of international importance not least for the limnology and biodiversity. Moreover, Lake Shkoder and Lake Prespa have been recognised as a wetland of international importance by official designation under the Ramsar Convention.
caption: The main lagoon banks and islands of Patoku are covered by salt marsh scrubs.[24]
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