Forests of Azerbaijan
The forests of Azerbaijan have 150 endemic species of trees and bushes out of a total of 435 species of trees and bushes.[1]
The total forest area of Azerbaijan is 1,021,880 ha or 11.8% of the country's area.[1][2] The forest biomes are made up of temperate deciduous forests, temperate mixed deciduous and coniferous forests, temperate coniferous forests and riparian forests.[1] Specialists estimate that in the 8th-9th centuries the forest cover was around 30-35%, most of it is in mountainous areas.[1][3]
While as a whole, Azerbaijan is a country with modest forest cover, the forest cover is unevenly spread across the country. In the low-lying areas, the forest cover is very sparse, also due to the fact that the precipitation is too low for trees and forests to grow in most of these areas; whereas in many mountainous areas, the forest cover is much greater especially in wetter areas.[1]
49% of the country's forests are located in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, 34% in the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, 15% in the Talysh Mountains-Lankaran Lowland region, 2% in the Kur-Araz Lowland, and 0.5% in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.[1]
The forests are classified into two major ecoregions in Azerbaijan: the Caucasus mixed forests of the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the Lesser Caucasus Mountains, and the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of the Talysh Mountains-Lankaran Lowland region.[1]
Azerbaijan has many endemic tree and shrub species, relicts of the Tertiary period which were not affected by Pliocene and Pleistocene glaciations.[1]
Forests Of Azerbaijan Media
Mountain forests in Gakh
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Forests of the Republic of Azerbaijan (in en)Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. (in English)
- ↑ Hasanov, Z.M.. Beech forests of Azerbaijan: The modern condition, age structure and regeneration (in en). Annals of Agrarian Science 15 (4) (2017-12-01). p. 453–457. doi:10.1016/j.aasci.2016.08.003. (in English)
- ↑ Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. GARDENS of BIODIVERSITY: Conservation of genetic resources and their use in traditional food production systems by small farmers of the Southern Caucasus (in en) (2018)Food & Agriculture Org.. ISBN 978-9251066133. (in English)
Other websites
- Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan (in Azerbaijani and English)