Gorgan, Iran Photograph by Mahmoud Sohrabi   Central Asia: Northern Iran into southern Azerbaijan Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests   21,300 square miles (55,100 square kilometers) -- about twice the size of Maryland Critical/Endangered

· Leafy Hillsides
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Leafy Hillsides

If you were to travel along the northern stretches of Iran and just into Azerbaijan, you'd discover a region of lush forests covering the hillsides and coastal plain along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. Climb up these hillsides and you'll discover a jungle-like habitat of oak beech, hornbeam, ash, English elm, and maple trees entangled with many climbers and low shrubs, and inhabited by an assortment of animals, including both red and row deer.

Special Features

The Caspian Hyrcanian Mixed Forests experience abundant rainfall and snowmelt that runs off the north slope of the Elburz and Talish mountains. These lush forests sweep down to the coastal plain south of the Caspian Sea, where they eventully yield to coastal lagoons, swamps, and salt marshes. The climate in this zone is temperate, with wet summers and mild winters much like those of the Atlantic coast of Europe.

	The rare Dalmatian pelican has a wingspan of over 10 feet (3 m)! It builds a huge nest--more than three feet (1 m) high and about two feet (60 cm) wide--out of reeds, grass, and sticks that it cements together with its droppings.

Wild Side

Pheasants nest within the thick groundcover under the leafy trees. Wetlands along the coast of the Caspian Sea provide wintering habitat and migration rest areas for birds that include Dalmatian pelicans, pygmy comorants, white-headed ducks, and imperial eagles. Pelicans, herons, flamingos, swans, and other migratory birds also frequent the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. This ecoregion is also important as a wintering area for the slender-billed curlew, considered the most threatened bird species in the western Palearctic. The snorts and stamping of wild boars can be heard within the dense thickets and reed beds of the coastal marsh. Otters, water voles, and pine martens silently creep about the riverine areas, as golden jackals and wildcats roam this ecoregion, searching for prey.

Cause for Concern

Gray poplar, caucasian wingnut, and caucasian alder trees once lined the river banks within the coastal plain, but most of the lowland forest of this ecoregion has been cleared for agriculture or urban development. Invasive plants such as the spiny maquis have taken over in areas of secondary growth, especially in areas of selective tree felling. Coastal habitats have been drained and turned into agricultural fields. Only a few patches of native forests and wetlands remain.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.