The ecoregion lies mostly in the Kura-Aras Lowland, drained by the Kura River which flows eastward to empty into the Caspian Sea, and its southern tributary the Aras. It is bounded on the north by the Caucasus range, on the west by the Lesser Caucasus, and on the southwest by the Armenian Highlands, on the south by the Elburz Range, and on the east by the Caspian Sea. 70% of the ecoregion is within Azerbaijan, extending into eastern Georgia and northwestern Iran. Elevations range from -27 meters along the shore of the Caspian Sea to 900 meters above sea level.
Baku, Azerbaijan's capital and largest city, is in the ecoregion, as is Tbilisi, Georgia's capital and largest city.
Climate
The climate of the ecoregion is semi-arid to arid, temperate, and continental. The ecoregion has a long, hot summer and a short winter with mild temperatures. Average annual precipitation is 300 to 400mm.[1]
Flora
The main plant communities include shrub deserts, steppe, open woodlands, riparian forests in river floodplains, and wetlands.
Native mammals include the Persian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa subgutturosa) and Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti). The riparian forests support wild boar, gray wolf, roe deer, and Caspian red deer (Cervus elaphus maral).[1]
The Zagros Mountains forest steppe is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in Western Asia. The ecoregion extends along the Zagros Mountains, stretching from eastern Turkey and northern Iraq to southern Iran.
The Caucasus mixed forests is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion in the Caucasus Mountains, as well as the adjacent Lesser Caucasus range and the eastern end of the Pontic Mountains.
The Crimean Submediterranean forest complex is an ecoregion on the Black Sea coast of Russia and Ukraine. It is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome.
The North Saharan steppe and woodlands is a desert ecoregion, in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, that forms the northern edge of the Sahara. It extends east and west across Northern Africa, south of the Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe ecoregion of the Maghreb and Cyrenaica, which is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form an ecotone between the Mediterranean climate regions to the north and the hyper-arid Sahara Desert ecoregion to the south.
The Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion of North Africa. It occupies interior plateaus and mountain ranges of the Maghreb region, lying generally between the coastal Mediterranean woodlands and forests to the north and the Sahara to the south.
The Illyrian deciduous forests is a terrestrial ecoregion in southern Europe, which extends along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It belongs to the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, and is in the Palearctic realm.
The Elburz Range forest steppe ecoregion is an arid, mountainous 1,000-kilometer arc south of the Caspian Sea, stretching across northern Iran from the Azerbaijan border to near the Turkmenistan border. It covers 63,300 square kilometres (24,400 sq mi) and encompasses the southern and eastern slopes of the Alborz Mountains as well as their summits. The Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests ecoregion's lush green mountainsides and plains receive moisture from the Caspian Sea from this ecoregion's northern border. The vast Central Persian desert basins ecoregion forms its southern border.
The Hyrcanian forests are a zone of lush lowland and montane forests covering about 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi) near the shores of the Caspian Sea in Iran and Azerbaijan. The forest is named after the ancient region of Hyrcania. The World Wide Fund for Nature refers to the ecoregion as the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests. Since 5 July 2019, the Hyrcanian Forests have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In September 2023, the heritage site expanded to incorporate portions of the forest located in Azerbaijan.
The Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests is an ecoregion in southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Dalmatian Islands of Croatia, and Malta.
The Eastern Anatolian montane steppe is a temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion. It is located in the Armenian Highlands, covering parts of eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, southern Georgia, and northwestern Iran.
The Tian Shan montane conifer forests ecoregion covers the "forest belt" of the Tian Shan mountains - generally the north-facing slopes that get enough moisture, and are warm enough, for trees to grow. This conifer belt is found mostly between 1,500 and 2,700 meters.
The Tian Shan foothill arid steppe ecoregion covers the northern and western approaches to the Tian Shan mountains, centered on Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. This region receives more moisture from Central Asia, thereby supporting more vegetation and diversity of plant and animal species than the deserts to the south.
The Iberian sclerophyllous and semi-deciduous forests is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It occupies the interior valleys and plateaus of the Iberian Peninsula. The ecoregion lies mostly in Spain, and includes some portions of eastern Portugal.
The Southeastern Iberian shrubs and woodlands is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion in southwestern Europe. It lies in southeastern coastal Spain, along the Mediterranean Sea.
The Central Asian riparian woodlands ecoregion is spread out across the deserts and plains of central Asia between the Aral Sea and the mountains 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) to the east. The long narrow components of the ecoregion follow the large rivers fed by snowmelt, and provide critical habitat for migratory birds as they travel through the arid region. The vegetation is referred to as tugai, characterized by low tangles of trees and brush along the edges of the rivers and associated wetlands, and fed by groundwater instead of precipitation.
The Gissaro-Alai open woodlands ecoregion covers the western foothills winding around two western offshoots of the Tian Shan Mountains in western Tajikistan, and parts of eastern Uzbekistan and western Kyrgyzstan, in Central Asia. The woodlands are typically of Juniper trees and shrubs, fitting the altitude zone situated between the desert valley floor, and the tree line, above which the mountain ridges are glaciated and barren.
The Central Afghan Mountains xeric woodlands ecoregion covers the xeric (dry) eastern and southern slopes of the central mountain range of Afghanistan, between the sandy desert to the south and the alpine meadows in the higher, wetter region to the north. Despite the 'woodlands' in the ecoregion name, very little of the territory is forested – less than 1% – but is instead sparse vegetation or herbaceous cover.
The Paropamisus xeric woodlands ecoregion covers the portion of northeastern Afghanistan north of the central mountain range and the Hindu Kush Mountains. The name is derived from the Old Persian name for the region, Parupraesanna. While there are low canopy woodlands in the northeast of the ecorgegion, most of the territory is desert or xeric (dry) scrubland.
The Mesopotamian shrub desert is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in Western Asia. It extends across portions of Israel, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.
The Baluchistan xeric woodlands ecoregion covers the middle elevations of a series of mountain ranges of western Pakistan and northeastern Afghanistan, reaching 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from the Arabian Sea in the south to the Hindu Kush Mountains and the Himalayas in the north. The characteristic vegetation is xeric (dry) woodlands of shrubs and herbaceous cover. The region has rich biodiversity but relatively few endemic species.
↑ UNEP-WCMC (2020). Protected Area Profile for Azerbaijan from the World Database of Protected Areas, October 2020. Available at: www.protectedplanet.net
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