Hirkan National Park
Encyclopedia
Hirkan National Park — is a national park
National Parks of Azerbaijan
National Parks of Azerbaijan refers to the situation and the listing of national parks in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The national parks of Azerbaijan are run by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. The first national park that was established in Azerbaijan, is the Zangezur National Park...

 of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...

. It was established by the decree of the President of Azerbaijan
President of Azerbaijan
The country of Azerbaijan is a presidential republic, with the President of Azerbaijan as the head of state, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan as head of government...

 Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Heydar oglu Aliyev is the President of Azerbaijan since 2003. He also functions as the Chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party and the head of the National Olympic Committee...

, in an area in Lankaran Rayon and Astara Rayon administrative districts on February 9, 2004 on the basis of the former "Hirkan State Reserve" which it superseded, on a surface area of 29760 hectares (297.6 km²). It was enlarged by presidential decree on April 23, 2008 from 29760 hectares (297.6 km²) to 42797 hectares (428 km²).

The area of Hirkan National Park is 99% covered by forests in a primarily mountainous region, and is strictly protected.

The Hirkan National Park protects the humid subtropical and humid temperate
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...

 forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s in the area of the Lenkoran Lowland and the Talysh Mountains
Talysh Mountains
Talysh Mountains is a mountain chain in northwestern Iran, and southeastern Republic of Azerbaijan in the northwest section of the Elburz Mountains, extending southeastward from the Lankaran Lowland in southeast Azerbaijan to the lower part of the Sefid Rud in northwest Iran...

, sheltering many endemic plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 and animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...

 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

.

The ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....

 of the Hirkan National Park, belongs to the Caspian Hyrcanian (Girkan) mixed forests
Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests
The Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests ecoregion, in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, is an area of lush lowland and montane forests covering about near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea of Azerbaijan and Iran.-Setting:...

 ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

, an area of lush deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 broadleaved lowland and montane forests (subtropical
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...

 and temperate rainforests) that completely cover the Talysh Mountains and partially cover the Lankaran Lowland.

Climate

The Hirkan National Park normally has very high humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...

 and precipitation
Precipitation (meteorology)
In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

 throughout the year, averaging from 1,400 mm to 1,600 mm per year in the lowlands to 1,800 mm per year in the mountains. The maximum annual precipitation is the highest precipitation in Azerbaijan.
The Hirkan National Park has a humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...

 in the lowlands, an oceanic climate
Oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...

 in the middle elevations and a humid continental climate
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters....

 on the mountain peaks.

The variety of elevations, the abundant rainfall, and the presence of old growth forest
Old growth forest
An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

s give the park an unusual richness of biota
Biota (ecology)
Biota are the total collection of organisms of a geographic region or a time period, from local geographic scales and instantaneous temporal scales all the way up to whole-planet and whole-timescale spatiotemporal scales. The biota of the Earth lives in the biosphere.-See...

.

Flora

This area preserves many endemic plants species, relicts of the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...

 period which were not affected by Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 and Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 glaciations.

The Caspian Hyrcanian (Girkan) forests account for 150 endemic species of trees and bushes out of 435 species of trees and bushes. Some endemic tree species are, the Hyrcanian Box Tree (Buxus hyrcana), Caucasian Pear (Pyrus communis subsp. caucasica), Lenkoran Acacia (Albizia julibrissin
Albizia julibrissin
Albizia julibrissin is a species of legume in the genus Albizia, native to southwestern and eastern Asia, from Persia east to China and Korea...

), Chestnut-Leaved Oak (Quercus castaneifolia), Caucasian Oak (Quercus macranthera
Quercus macranthera
Quercus macranthera, commonly called the Caucasian Oak, or the Persian Oak, is a species of deciduous tree native to Western Asia Quercus macranthera, commonly called the Caucasian Oak, or the Persian Oak, is a species of deciduous tree native to Western Asia Quercus macranthera, commonly called...

), Caucasian Ash (Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. oxycarpa), European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior), European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), Oriental Hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis
Carpinus orientalis
Carpinus orientalis is a hornbeam native from southeastern Europe to northern Iran and occurs usually on hot dry sites at lower altitudes than European Hornbeam....

), Oriental Beech (Fagus orientalis), Caucasian Persimmon (Diospyros lotus), Caspian Locust Tree (Gleditsia caspica
Gleditsia caspica
Gleditsia caspica is a species of Gleditsia native to western Asia, in the Caucasus region of Azerbaijan and northern Iran, close to the Caspian Sea....

), Caucasian Alder, (Alnus subcordata), Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa subsp. barbata), White Poplar (Populus alba) Caucasian Wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia), Persian Ironwood (Parrotia persica), Caucasian Zelkova (Zelkova carpinifolia
Zelkova carpinifolia
Zelkova carpinifolia is a species of Zelkova, native to the Caucasus, Kaçkar, and Alborz mountains in the extreme southeast of Europe and southwest Asia....

), Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus), Velvet Maple (Acer velutinum
Acer velutinum
Acer velutinum, Velvet Maple is a tree species native to Azerbaijan, Georgia and northern Iran. It grows in the moist Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests as wells as parts of Eastern Georgia.It is a tall deciduous tree growing to over 40 m tall....

), Cappadocian Maple (Acer cappadocicum), Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra), Caucasian Lime Tree (Tilia dasystyla
Tilia dasystyla
Tilia dasystyla is a deciduous lime tree species. It contains following subspecies:*T. dasystyla subsp. caucasica - northern Iran, northern and western Turkey, Caucasus and Crimea*T. dasystyla subsp...

 subsp. caucasica
), Wild Cherry (Prunus avium
Prunus avium
Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry, bird cherry, or gean, is a species of cherry, native to Europe, west Turkey, northwest Africa, and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Morocco and Tunisia, north to the Trondheimsfjord region in Norway and east to the Caucasus, and...

), Wild Service Tree (Sorbus torminalis), Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa), among many others.

Shrub species occurring in the area include the Poet's Laurel (Danae racemosa), Hyrcanian Holly (Ilex hyrcana), Greenbrier (Smilax
Smilax
Smilax is a genus of about 300-350 species, found in temperate zones, tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found , while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico...

 excelsa
), Common Ivy (Hedera helix
Hedera helix
Hedera helix is a species of ivy native to most of Europe and western Asia. It is labeled as an invasive species in a number of areas where it has been introduced.-Description:...

), etc.

Fauna

There are several endemic subspecies of birds, of which the Caspian Titmouse (Poecile hyrcanus) subspecies of the Titmouse
Titmouse
The tits, chickadees, and titmice constitute Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa...

; the Caucasus Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus colchicus) subspecies of the Common Pheasant
Common Pheasant
The Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Georgia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...

 of the Talysh Mountains are common.

The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) once roamed these mountains, but is now extinct. Other large mammals here are the Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor), lynx (Lynx lynx), brown bear (Ursus arctos), wild boar (Sus scrofa), wolf (Canis lupus), golden jackal (Canis aureus), jungle cat (Felis chaus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), badger (Meles meles), otter (Lutra lutra), etc.

The Persian leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor) subspecies of the leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...

, lives in the southern regions in Azerbaijan, primarily in the Talysh Mountains, Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, lying between Lower Karabakh and Zangezur and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains...

 and Nakhichevan
Nakhichevan
The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,363 km² and borders Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey to the northwest...

. Despite occasional sightings, it was not clear whether leopards had been extinct in Azerbaijan by the late 1990s until a species was caught on camera in March, 2007 in the Hirkan National Park.

Expansion and reforestation

The Hirkan National Park was established in 2004 on the basis of the Hirkan State Reserve which it superseded, on a surface area of 29760 hectares (297.6 km²), it was enlarged in 2008 to 42797 hectares (428 km²).

The plain
Plain
In geography, a plain is land with relatively low relief, that is flat or gently rolling. Prairies and steppes are types of plains, and the archetype for a plain is often thought of as a grassland, but plains in their natural state may also be covered in shrublands, woodland and forest, or...

 part of the Hirkan National Park ("Moscow Forest") lies within the Lankaran Lowland. The Moscow Forest is the only preserved part of the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests
Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests
The Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests ecoregion, in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, is an area of lush lowland and montane forests covering about near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea of Azerbaijan and Iran.-Setting:...

 which covered most of the lowland, that was later cleared for agriculture.
However, there is a reforestation
Reforestation
Reforestation is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands that have been depleted, usually through deforestation....

 program of the lowland, on a designated non-forested lot which is the only non-cultivated land on the plain, in order to (partially because the Lankaran Lowland is far too valuable for its agricultural productivity
Agricultural productivity
Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to agricultural inputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, their varying densities make measuring overall agricultural output difficult...

 for Azerbaijan, to be given up for reforestation) restore the ecology
Restoration ecology
-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...

 to its previous forested state. This lot will become the second forest in the lowland after the Moscow Forest and once it is reforested, it will become an additional part of the Hirkan National Park in the lowland.

UNESCO Status Application

For the purpose of including the Hirkan National Park and the Caspian Hyrcanian (Girkan) forests respectively into UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

's 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...

 list of cultural and natural heritage and Biosphere Reserves Programme, documents substantiated from the scientific point of view have been prepared and introduced to the UNESCO Secretariat.

See also

  • Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests
    Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests
    The Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests ecoregion, in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, is an area of lush lowland and montane forests covering about near the southern shores of the Caspian Sea of Azerbaijan and Iran.-Setting:...


  • Nature of Azerbaijan
    Nature of Azerbaijan
    The environment of Azerbaijan includes a wide diversity of climates, animals, plants, and habitats.-National protection:Due to the tapping of oil reserves in the early 20th century, Azerbaijan has had sufficient resources to develop an industrial sector, which in turn led to a significant increase...

  • National Parks of Azerbaijan
    National Parks of Azerbaijan
    National Parks of Azerbaijan refers to the situation and the listing of national parks in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The national parks of Azerbaijan are run by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources. The first national park that was established in Azerbaijan, is the Zangezur National Park...

  • State Reserves of Azerbaijan
    State Reserves of Azerbaijan
    State Reserves of Azerbaijan refers to the state reserves in Azerbaijan, which preserve the fauna, flora and their ecosystems.State Reserves bear the status of governmental establishments aimed at environmental protection and scientific researches. They are particularly designed for the protection...

  • State Game Reserves of Azerbaijan

External links

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