In terms of natural space, the Biosphere Reserve Elbe River Landscape belongs to the large landscape of the 'North German Lowlands'. The Mecklenburg part of the area not only covers the main unit of the 'Elbe lowlands' itself, which includes the course of the river, the floodplains, oxbow lakes, floodplain grassland and, above all, the extensive lowlands of the Sude, Schaale, Krainke, Röcknitz, Löcknitz and Elde tributaries. North of the " Lower Elbe Valley" borders the "Southwestern Foreland of the Mecklenburg Lake District".
The landscape here is characterised by inland dune areas, the Saale-period plateaus and the 'embedded' lowlands of the Elbe tributaries, which are significantly shaped by the alternation of high and low water of the Elbe.
A special feature of the Biosphere Reserve is the close interlocking of the dry biotopes, which are particularly worthy of protection, with wetlands in a very confined space. At high tide, the meadows below the Elbe dunes are often flooded by the old course of the Löcknitz.
In the following, we present the structural diversity, the numerous habitats with partly extreme living conditions for plants and animals:
