The term natural habitat refers to land and water areas where (i) the ecosystems' biological communities are formed largely by native plant and animal species, and (ii) human activity has not essentially modified the area's primary ecological functions.

All natural habitats have important biological, social, economic, and existence value. Important natural habitats may occur in tropical humid, dry, and cloud forests; temperate and boreal forests; mediterranean-type shrub lands; natural arid and semi-arid lands; mangrove swamps, coastal marshes, and other wetlands; estuaries; sea grass beds; coral reefs; freshwater lakes and rivers; alpine and sub alpine environments, including herb fields, grasslands, and paramos; and tropical and temperate grasslands.

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