Editing Caucasus (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:CAUCASIA~Vegetation Land Cover with ethnic borders~2.jpg|thumb|Caucasus vegetation land cover, 1940]]
[[File:View of the village Zrikh in Dagestan, RF.jpg|thumb|View of the Caucasus Mountains in [[Dagestan]], Russia]]
The Caucasus is an area of great ecological importance. The region is included in the list of 34 world [[biodiversity hotspot]]s.<ref>Zazanashvili N, Sanadiradze G, Bukhnikashvili A, Kandaurov A, Tarkhnishvili D. 2004. Caucasus. In: Mittermaier RA, Gil PG, Hoffmann M, Pilgrim J, Brooks T, Mittermaier CG, Lamoreux J, da Fonseca GAB, eds. Hotspots revisited, Earth's biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions. Sierra Madre: CEMEX/Agrupacion Sierra Madre, 148–153</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=WWF – The Caucasus: A biodiversity hotspot |url=http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/project/projects/index.cfm?uProjectID=GE0026&source=ge |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508212359/http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/project/projects/index.cfm?uProjectID=GE0026&source=ge |archive-date=8 May 2013 |access-date=2 August 2012 |website=panda.org}}</ref> It harbors some 6400 species of higher plants, 1600 of which are [[endemism|endemic]] to the region.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.endemic-species-caucasus.info/|title=Endemic Species of the Caucasus}}</ref> Its wildlife includes [[Persian leopard]]s, [[brown bear]]s, [[wolf|wolves]], [[bison]], [[East European red deer|marals]], [[golden eagle]]s and [[hooded crow]]s. Among [[invertebrates]], some 1000 [[spider]] species are recorded in the Caucasus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A faunistic database on the spiders of the Caucasus |url=http://caucasus-spiders.info/introduction/checklists/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328225817/http://caucasus-spiders.info/introduction/checklists/ |archive-date=28 March 2009 |access-date=17 September 2010 |publisher=Caucasian Spiders}}</ref><ref name="chaladzeetal2014">{{Cite journal |last1=Chaladze |first1=G. |last2=Otto |first2=S. |last3=Tramp |first3=S. |year=2014 |title=A spider diversity model for the Caucasus Ecoregion |journal=Journal of Insect Conservation |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=407–416 |doi=10.1007/s10841-014-9649-1 |bibcode=2014JICon..18..407C |s2cid=16783553}}</ref> Most of arthropod biodiversity is concentrated on Great and Lesser Caucasus ranges.<ref name=chaladzeetal2014 />

The region has a high level of [[endemism]] and several [[Relict (biology)|relict]] animals and plants, the fact reflecting the presence of refugial forests, which survived the [[Last glacial period|Ice Age]] in the Caucasus Mountains. The Caucasus forest refugium is the largest throughout the Western Asian (near Eastern) region.<ref>van Zeist W, Bottema S. 1991. ''Late Quaternary vegetation of the Near East''. Wiesbaden: Reichert.</ref><ref name="tgm">{{Cite journal |last1=Tarkhnishvili |first1=D. |last2=Gavashelishvili |first2=A. |last3=Mumladze |first3=L. |year=2012 |title=Palaeoclimatic models help to understand current distribution of Caucasian forest species |journal=Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=105 |pages=231–248 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.2011.01788.x |doi-access=free}}</ref> The area has multiple representatives of [[disjunct distribution|disjunct]] relict groups of plants with the closest relatives in Eastern Asia, southern Europe, and even North America.<ref>Milne RI. 2004. "Phylogeny and biogeography of ''Rhododendron'' subsection ''Pontica'', a group with a Tertiary relict distribution". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 33: 389–401.</ref><ref>Kikvidze Z, Ohsawa M. 1999. "Adjara, East Mediterranean refuge of Tertiary vegetation". In: Ohsawa M, Wildpret W, Arco MD, eds. ''Anaga Cloud Forest, a comparative study on evergreen broad-leaved forests and trees of the Canary Islands and Japan''. Chiba: Chiba University Publications, 297–315.</ref><ref>Denk T, Frotzler N, Davitashvili N. 2001. "Vegetational patterns and distribution of relict taxa in humid temperate forests and wetlands of Georgia Transcaucasia". ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 72: 287–332.</ref> Over 70 species of forest snails of the region are endemic.<ref>Pokryszko B, Cameron R, Mumladze L, Tarkhnishvili D. 2011. "Forest snail faunas from Georgian Transcaucasia: patterns of diversity in a Pleistocene refugium". ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 102: 239–250</ref> Some relict species of vertebrates are [[Caucasian parsley frog]], [[Caucasian salamander]], [[Robert's snow vole]], and [[Caucasian grouse]], and there are almost entirely endemic groups of animals such as lizards of genus ''[[Darevskia]]''. In general, the species composition of this refugium is quite distinct and differs from that of the other Western Eurasian refugia.<ref name=tgm />

The natural landscape is one of [[Caucasus mixed forests|mixed forest]], with substantial areas of rocky ground above the treeline. The Caucasus Mountains are also noted for a [[dog breed]], the [[Caucasian Shepherd Dog]] (Rus. Kavkazskaya Ovcharka, Geo. Nagazi). [[Vincent Evans]] noted that [[minke whale]]s have been recorded from the Black Sea.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oceancare.org/en/startpage/|title=OceanCare - Protecting oceans and marine mammals|date=24 May 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Horwood |first=Joseph |title=Biology and Exploitation of the Minke Whale |date=1989 |page=27}}</ref><ref name="GreekCetacea">{{Cite web|year=2003 |title=Current knowledge of the cetacean fauna of the Greek Seas |url=http://cetaceanalliance.org/download/literature/Frantzis_etal_2003.pdf |pages=219–232 |access-date=21 April 2016 |journal= |archive-date=7 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907032339/http://www.cetaceanalliance.org/download/literature/Frantzis_etal_2003.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>