Anthropogenic Changes of Caucasus Forest Landscapes

Abstract

Caucasus eco-region occupies more than 583 thousand sq km and are represented 25 types, 62 sub-types and 205 genera of landscapes. Due to several climatically contrasting regions the landscapes are quite diverse here. Sub-tropical humid conditions, also experiencing mostly hot, dry weather year-round dominate in the lowland and foothills of Caucasus. forests are mostly concentrated in low- and middle-mountain landscapes. Comparatively little are of forests are concentrated in the lowlands and plains. High volcanic plateaus of South Caucasus also are without forest areas and are represented by steppe vegetation. The main purpose of this work is to determine anthropogenic changes forest landscapes of Caucasus and to evaluate the degree of this changes. The trend of anthropogenic change of forests is observed almost on whole territory of eco-region, especially in plain areas. Therefore, the decreasing trend of forest area, phytomass amount, also the ecological functions are evident. The research is based on the landscape approach. A great set of field data were used. All these data were processed by means of GIS-technologies.