Western Caucasus
Encyclopedia
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
in Southern Russia, extending from the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
to Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus
Mount Elbrus is an inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Mt. Elbrus's peak is the highest in the Caucasus, in Russia...
.
World Heritage Site
The Western Caucasus includes a natural UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
comprising the extreme western edge of the Caucasus Mountains
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
. As stated by the UNESCO specialists, it is the only large mountain area in Europe that has not experienced significant human impact. Its habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s are exceptionally varied for such a small area, ranging from lowland
Lowland
In physical geography, a lowland is any broad expanse of land with a general low level. The term is thus applied to the landward portion of the upward slope from oceanic depths to continental highlands, to a region of depression in the interior of a mountainous region, to a plain of denudation, or...
s to glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s. The site is situated 50 km to the north from the Russian resort of Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
.
Biosphere Reserve
The Western Caucasus also contains the Caucasian State Nature Biosphere Reserve , nature reserveNature reserves in Russia
Zapovednik is an established term on the territory of the former Soviet Union for a protected area which is kept "forever wild". It is the highest degree of environmental protection for the assigned areas that are strictly protected, and maybe restricted to the public.The closest English term is...
(IUCN management category Ia ) set up by the Soviet government in Krasnodar Krai
Krasnodar Krai
-External links:* **...
, Adygea and Karachay-Cherkessia
Karachay-Cherkessia
The Karachay-Cherkess Republic , or Karachay-Cherkessia is a federal subject of Russia . Population: -Geography:*Area: *Borders:**internal: Krasnodar Krai , Kabardino-Balkar Republic , Stavropol Krai ....
in 1924 to preserve some 85 m-high specimens of the Nordmann Fir
Nordmann Fir
Nordmann Fir is a fir native to the mountains south and east of the Black Sea, in Turkey, Georgia, Russian Caucasus and northern parts of Armenia. It occurs at altitudes of 900-2,200 m on mountains with a rainfall of over 1,000 mm.It is a large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 60 m tall...
(Abies nordmanniana), thought to be the tallest trees in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and a unique forest formed by English Yew (Taxus baccata) and European Box (Buxus sempervirens) within the city of Sochi
Sochi
Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...
.
About a third of its high mountain species of plants are recognized as endemic
Endemic (ecology)
Endemism is the ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, all species of lemur are endemic to the...
. The area also includes the Sochi National Park
Sochi National Park
Sochi National Park is a national park in Western Caucasus, near the city of Sochi, in Southern Russia. It is Russia's second oldest national park, established on May 5, 1983.-Geography:...
(IUCN management category II).
Caucasian Wisent
The Caucasian Wisent was a subspecies of Wisent that inhabited the Caucasus Mountains of Eastern Europe.It was hunted by the Caspian Tiger and the Asiatic Lion in the Caucasus, as well as other predators such as wolves and bears.-Decline and extinction:In the 17th century, the Caucasian wisent...
. The last wild wisent in the world was killed by poachers here in 1927. The wisents were reintroduced several decades later.
See also
- Caucasus mixed forestsCaucasus mixed forestsThe Caucasus mixed forests ecoregion, in the Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Biome, covers the Caucasus range, which forms the traditional border between Europe and Asia, as well as the adjacent Lesser Caucasus range and the eastern end of the Pontic Mountains.-Distribution:The Caucasus...
- Index: Geography of the Caucasus
Further reading
- Алтухов Михаил Данилович, Литвинская Светлана Анатольевна. Охрана растительного мира на Северо-Западном Кавказе. Krasnodar: Краснодарское книжное издательство, 1989.
- Кавказский заповедник. In Заповедники СССР. Заповедники Кавказа. Moscow: Мысль, 1990. P. 69-100. ISBN 5244004328