A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest (TMCF), is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, montane, moist forest characterized by a persistent, frequent or seasonal low-level cloud cover, usually at the canopy level, formally described in the International Cloud Atlas (2017) as silvagenitus. Cloud forests often exhibit an abundance of mosses covering the ground and vegetation, in which case they are also referred to as mossy forests. Mossy forests usually develop on the saddles of mountains, where moisture introduced by settling clouds is more effectively retained.
Geographically, the country of Iran is located in West Asia and borders the Caspian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman. Topographically, it is predominantly located on the Persian Plateau. Its mountains have impacted both the political and the economic history of the country for several centuries. The mountains enclose several broad basins, on which major agricultural and urban settlements are located. Until the 20th century, when major highways and railroads were constructed through the mountains to connect the population centers, these basins tended to be relatively isolated from one another.
Gorgan, formerly Esterabad , is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies approximately 400 km (250 mi) to the north east of Tehran, some 30 km (19 mi) away from the Caspian Sea. In the 2006 census; its population was 269,226, in 73,702 families.
Mazandaran Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range, in central-northern part of the country. The province covers an area of 23,842 km2. It was founded in 1937.
Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets lower until it reaches sea level, and alpine tundra merges with polar tundra.
Golestan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located in the northeast of the country and southeast of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Gorgan, formerly called Esterabad until 1937. Golestan was split off from Mazandaran province in 1997.
Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain.
Lahijan is a city near the Caspian Sea and the capital of Lahijan County, Gilan Province, Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population was 101,073.
Flora of Azerbaijan or Vegetation of Azerbaijan refers to the plants, trees, flowers which can be found in Azerbaijan.
Hirkan National Park — is a national park of Azerbaijan. It was established in an area in Lankaran Rayon and Astara Rayon administrative districts on February 9, 2004 on the basis of the former "Hirkan State Reserve" which it superseded, on a surface area of 29,760 hectares (297.6 km2). It was enlarged by presidential decree on April 23, 2008 from 29,760 hectares (297.6 km2) to 40,358 hectares (403.58 km2).
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) adjoining the shores of the Caspian Sea of Iran and part of that of Azerbaijan. The forest is named after the ancient region of Hyrcania. In the World Wide Fund for Nature categorization, the ecoregion is referred to as the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests.
The Alborz range, also spelled as Alburz, Elburz or Elborz, is a mountain range in northern Iran that stretches from the border of Azerbaijan along the western and entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea and finally runs northeast and merges into the smaller Aladagh Mountains and borders in the northeast on the parallel mountain ridge Kopet Dag in the northern parts of Khorasan. All these mountains are part of the much larger Alpide belt. This mountain range is divided into the Western, Central, and Eastern Alborz Mountains. The Western Alborz Range runs south-southeastward almost along the western coast of the Caspian Sea. The Central Alborz runs from west to east along the entire southern coast of the Caspian Sea, while the Eastern Alborz Range runs in a northeasterly direction, toward the northern parts of the Khorasan region, southeast of the Caspian Sea. Mount Damavand, the highest mountain in Iran measuring 5,610.0 m, is located in the Central Alborz Mountains.
Golestan National Park, commonly known as the Golestan Jungle, is an Iranian National Park in Golestan Province, northeastern Iran.
Havar is a village in Almeh Rural District, Samalqan District, Maneh and Samalqan County, North Khorasan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 228 inhabitants, distributed amongst 56 families. Havar is noteworthy for marking the Easternmost extremity of the highly biodiverse Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests – most of which are to be found fringing the Caspian Sea. The spur – almost 'Island' – of forest which Havar shares with the villages of Jowzak, Darkesh and Kashanak owes its extension into the more arid regions to the East of the Caspian sea to the trapping of moisture from that sea by the Aladagh Mountains, which form an extension, of lower altitude, of the Alborz mountains to the West. This forested area lies within the Khorasani Kurdish region of Northeastern Iran and Southwestern Turkmenistan. The only settlement of any size close to Havar and its neighbouring villages is Bojnord the capital of North Khorasan Province.
The Southern Siberian rainforest is an area of temperate rainforest in South Central Siberia that occurs primarily along the Altai and Sayan mountain ranges in Khakassia and Tuva as well as a small area in the Khamar-Daban Mountains near Lake Baikal in Buryatia. The forest encompasses a total area of approximately 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi). The larger portion of the forest in the Altai and Sayan Mountains runs across a latitude range that encompasses between 51.5 degrees to 56 degrees north latitude, and a longitude range running between 86 degrees to 95 degrees east longitude. The region overlaps with the Golden Mountains of Altai World Heritage Site. Ecological zones range from hemiboreal forest to a forest-steppe ecotone and include a wider variety of plant species than surrounding areas.
The total forest area of Azerbaijan is 1,021,880 ha or 11.8% of the country's area. The forest biomes consist of temperate deciduous forests, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, temperate coniferous forests and riparian forests. Specialists estimate that in the 8th-9th centuries the forest cover was around 30-35%, most of it situated in mountainous areas.
The wildlife of Turkmenistan is the flora and fauna of Turkmenistan, and the natural habitats in which they live. Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia to the east of the Caspian Sea. Two thirds of the country is hot dry plains and desert, and the rest is more mountainous. Very little rain falls in summer and the chief precipitation occurs in the southern part of the country in the winter and spring. The Caspian coast has milder winters.
Lankaran-Astara Economic Region is one of the 14 economic regions of Azerbaijan. It borders Iran to the south and west, Caspian Sea to the east and Shirvan-Salyan Economic Region to the north. The region consists of the districts of Jalilabad, Astara, Lerik, Lankaran, Masally and Yardimli. It has an area of 6,070 square kilometres (2,340 sq mi). Its population was estimated to be at 953.6 thousand people in January 2021.
The Kopet Dag semi-desert ecoregion is a small ecoregion that crosses the border of southwestern Turkmenistan into northeastern Iran. It covers a transition zone between the deserts to the north and west, and the foothill steppes and woodlands in the higher Kopet Dag mountains to the east and the Alborz Mountains to the south. The terrain is mostly barren semi-desert and widespread 'takir', a type of seasonal salt flat or dried clay deposit in an interdune depression.
