|
Irano-Anatolian
The Irano-Anatolian region is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International's Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, extending across portions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Turkmenistan. This hotspot covers the South-West portion of the Irano-Turanian floristic region, connecting the Mediterranean Basin with Western Asia. It includes highlands of the central and eastern Anatolian Plateau as well as the Zagros, Alborz, and Kopet Dag mountain ranges. The ecoregions included within the hotspot are: * Central Anatolian steppe * Central Anatolian deciduous forests * Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests * Eastern Anatolian montane steppe * Elburz Range forest steppe * Kopet Dag woodlands and forest steppe * Zagros Mountains forest steppe 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 I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irano-Anatolian Biodiversity Hotspot
The Irano-Anatolian region is a biodiversity hotspot designated by Conservation International, Conservation International's Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, extending across portions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Turkmenistan. This hotspot covers the South-West portion of the Irano-Turanian Region, Irano-Turanian floristic region, connecting the Mediterranean Basin with Western Asia. It includes highlands of the central and eastern Anatolian Plateau as well as the Zagros, Alborz, and Kopet Dag mountain ranges. The terrestrial ecoregion, ecoregions included within the hotspot are: * Central Anatolian steppe * Central Anatolian deciduous forests * Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests * Eastern Anatolian montane steppe * Elburz Range forest steppe * Kopet Dag woodlands and forest steppe * Zagros Mountains forest steppe References External linksConservation International: Irano-Anatolian Biodiversity hotspot Ecoregions of Asia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity Hotspot
A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the concept was revised following thorough analysis by Myers and others into “Hotspots: Earth’s Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions” and a paper published in the journal ''Nature'', both in 2000. To qualify as a biodiversity hotspot on Myers' 2000 edition of the hotspot map, a region must meet two strict criteria: it must contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants (more than 0.5% of the world's total) as endemics, and it has to have lost at least 70% of its primary vegetation. Globally, 36 zones qualify under this definition. These sites support nearly 60% of the world's plant, bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species, with a high share of those species as endemics. Some of these hotspots support up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geography Of West Asia
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. The first recorded use of the word γεωγραφία was as a title of a book by Greek scholar Eratosthenes (276–194 BC). Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding of Earth and its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but also how they have changed and come to be. While geography is specific to Earth, many concepts can be applied more broadly to other celestial bodies in the field of planetary science. One such concept, the first law of geography, proposed by Waldo Tobler, is "everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things." Geography has been called "the world discipline" and "the bridge between the human and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of Western Asia
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by Jules Thurmann (1849). Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately.Thurmann, J. (1849). ''Essai de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ecoregions Of Asia
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural communities and species. The biodiversity of flora, fauna and ecosystems that characterise an ecoregion tends to be distinct from that of other ecoregions. In theory, biodiversity or conservation ecoregions are relatively large areas of land or water where the probability of encountering different species and communities at any given point remains relatively constant, within an acceptable range of variation (largely undefined at this point). Three caveats are appropriate for all bio-geographic mapping approaches. Firstly, no single bio-geographic framework is optimal for all taxa. Ecoregions reflect the best compromise for as many taxa as possible. Sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zagros Mountains Forest Steppe
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. Geography The Zagros Mountains are a belt of folded mountains formed by the collision of the African Plate with the Eurasian Plate. On the west, south, and east, the mountains are surrounded by deserts and semi-deserts. The dry grasslands, shrublands, and low-lying deserts of Mesopotamia and southern Iran lie to the west, and the plateau deserts of the Iranian Plateau to the east. The Armenian Highlands and Alborz Mountains lie to the north. Climate The ecoregion's climate is semi-arid and temperate. Annual precipitation ranges from 400 m to 800 mm, and falls mostly in winter and spring. Summers are hot and dry, and winters are cold, with the coldest winter temperatures dropping below −25 °C. Temperatures are generally warmer and the climate drier at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kopet Dag Woodlands And Forest Steppe
The Kopet Dag woodlands and forest steppe ecoregion (WWF ID: PA1008) coincides with the Kopet Dag mountains, straddling the southern border of Turkmenistan and the northeastern border of Iran. The region is one of high biodiversity, as it includes a full range of altitude zones (from semi-desert low hills at to rocky heights over ), and variety of habitats included juniper-wooded slopes, montane grasslands, and tugay (riverine thickets). Location and description The region begins at the western foothills of the Kopet Dag, about 100 km east of the Caspian Sea. It stretches for 650 km from northwest to southeast, with the Turkmenistan-Iran border running mostly down the main central ridge, and ends at the border with Afghanistan. The region is only about 100 km wide. The Kopet Dag semi-desert ecoregion wraps around the western third of the ecoregion, the Central Asian southern desert ecoregions lies to the rest of the north, and the Central Persian desert basins ecoregion to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elburz Range Forest Steppe
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 and encompasses the southern and eastern slopes of the Alborz Mountains as well as their summits. The Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests ecoregion, with its lush green mountainsides and plains that receive moisture from the Caspian Sea, forms this ecoregion's northern border. The vast Central Persian desert basins ecoregion forms its southern border. Setting The Alborz range is composed of a granite core overlain with sedimentary rock including limestones, shales, sandstones, and tuffs. Metamorphic rocks such as schists, marbles, and amphibolite are also widely found. The climate is arid with annual precipitation varying from 150 mm to 500 mm, falling mostly as winter snow. Elevations typically range from , and the highest point in the Middle East, high Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Anatolian Montane Steppe
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. Geography The ecoregion occupies the Armenian Highlands, a plateau lying mostly between 1500 to 2500 meters elevation. The volcanic peaks Mount Ararat (5137 m) and Mount Süphan (4058 m) rise above the plateau. It covers portions of eastern Turkey, eastern and southern Armenia, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the Javakheti region of southern Georgia, and northwestern Iran. The highlands are bounded on the northeast by the Lesser Caucasus, on the northwest by the Pontic Mountains, and on the south by the Zagros Mountains. To the east the plateau descends towards the Aras-Kura lowlands, and in the Aras valley the ecoregion descends to 375 meters elevation. The northern part of the ecoregion is in the watershed of the upper Aras River ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Anatolian Deciduous Forests
The Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests ecoregion is located in the mountains of eastern Turkey. It is a Palearctic ecoregion in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of 81,628 km2, Supplemental material 2 table S1b. which includes the Anti-Taurus Mountains, the western part of the eastern Anatolian Mountains, and the headwaters of the Euphrates River. The Anatolian diagonal runs through the northern and western portion of the ecoregion. The diagonal is a biogeographic feature which marks the easternmost limit of many Central Anatolian species, and the western limit of many eastern Anatolian species. 390 plant species are confined to the diagonal itself. Climate The climate is dry and continental, with extreme winter cold and heavy snowfall. Average annual precipitation ranges from 600 to 1,000 mm. The Mediterranean climate regions of the eastern Mediterranean lie to the south and southwest. The climate of the Black ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Anatolian Deciduous Forests
The Central Anatolian deciduous forests, also known as the Central Anatolian woodlands and steppe, is a Palearctic ecoregion of the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome. It is located in Central Anatolia, Asian Turkey. Geography The ecoregion occupies the plateau of Central Anatolia. Belts of forested mountains surround the ecoregion, with the Mediterranean-climate Anatolian conifer and deciduous mixed forests and Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests ecoregions in western and southern mountains, and the more temperate-climate Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests in the ranges to the north. The eastern edge of the ecoregion approximates the Anatolian diagonal, a biogeographic boundary which separates central from eastern Anatolia. The diagonal forms the western edge of the adjacent Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests ecoregion. The driest portions of the plateau, including the area around Lake Tuz, are part of the distinct Central Anatolian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Anatolian Steppe
The Central Anatolian steppe is a Palearctic ecoregion in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. It covers an area of 24,934 km2. Geography The Central Anatolian steppe is located in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, where it occupies the lowest portion of the Central Anatolian plain. It consists of three separate areas, along with several smaller ones. The largest is centered on Lake Tuz, and also includes the middle reach of the Kizilirmak River. The second area is the Karapınar and Konya Plains south of Lake Tuz. The Obruk Plateau separates the Lake Tuz basin from the Karapınar and Konya plains. The third area lies in the middle valleys of the Sakarya and Porsuk rivers northwest of Lake Tuz, as they curve around the eastern end of the Sündiken Mountains. The ecoregion consists mostly of plains and river valleys, with an average elevation of 1,000 m. Mountains and plateaus define the edges of the ecoregion. Lake Tuz lies in a closed basin, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
