Nugzar Zazanashvili

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Ilia State University

Based on the random encounter model, the population densities of species that are potentially prey or competitor to the leopard (Panthera pardus) were estimated in Hyrcan National Park, Azerbaijan. Data obtained from 18 camera traps were processed, 11 of which were installed in the southern part of the park, and seven of which are in the northern p...

Wars are frequent and can affect land use substantially, but the effects of wars can vary greatly depending on their characteristics, such as intensity or duration. Furthermore, the spatial scale of the effects can differ. The effects of wars may be localized and thus close to conflict locations if direct mechanisms matter most (e.g., abandonment b...

The treeline ecosystems in the Caucasus are mainly composed of birch (Betuletum) stands. These high-mountain forests encompass pivotal ecological functions like climate regulation, water retention, soil protection and more. The location of Caucasus birches as part of the treeline communities determines its vulnerability to anthropogenic as well as...

Counts of the bezoar goat Capra aegagrus and Asiatic mouflon Ovis gmelini populations were car- ried out in July and December of 2018 in the south- eastern part of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Repub- lic of Azerbaijan, and within the known range of the leopard Panthera pardus. Population trends, densi- ties and distribution of both species have show...

Mountain ungulates around the world have been decimated to small, fragmented populations. Restoring these species often is limited by inadequate information on where suitable habitat is found, and which restoration measures would help to increase and link existing populations. We developed an approach to spatially target threat-specific restoration...

Since the 1930s, the range and numbers of the Goitered Gazelle Gazella subgutturosa declined rapidly in the Caucasus and fell to a critical size in the 1960s when the species became extinct in Georgia and in most parts of the species range in Azerbaijan. After the establishment of target protected areas in Azerbaijan, the number of gazelles signifi...

Large carnivores are currently disappearing from many world regions because of habitat loss, prey depletion, and persecution. Ensuring large carnivore persistence requires safeguarding and sometimes facilitating the expansion of their populations. Understanding which conservation strategies, such as reducing persecution or restoring prey, are most...

Mountainous regions are changing rapidly across the world due to both land-use change and climate change. Given the importance of mountainous regions for ecosystem services and endemic biodiversity, monitoring these changes is essential. Satellite data provide a great resource to map land-cover change in mountainous regions, however mapping is espe...

Mountain ungulates around the world have been decimated to small, fragmented populations. Restoring these species often is limited by inadequate information on where suitable habitat is found, and which restoration measures would help to increase and link existing populations. We developed an approach to spatially target threat-specific restoration...

The 2020 Edition of the Ecoregional Conservation Plan (ECP) for the Caucasus is published in two parts. This, the first and main part, presents an overview of the Ecoregion’s biodiversity and the threats which it faces, describes the main actors in the field of biodiversity conservation in the Caucasus, explains the role of the ECP as a regional in...

Contents: Introduction; Boundary definition; Physical-geographical features; Terrestrial Ecoregions; Biodiversity Hotspots; Conclusions; Acknowledgements; References; Suggested citation.

This second part of the ECP presents supplementary reports that include an explanation of the rationale for the Ecoregion’s boundaries, a detailed description of the Key Biodiversity Areas and Conservation Landscapes (which form the basis of the Ecological Network envisaged by the ECP), and information about the status of the Ecoregion’s threatened...

Contents: Introduction; The first large landscape attempt; Conservation Landscape approach of ECP 2020; Conservation Landscapes of ECP 2020 and Corridor Outcomes of CEPF 2003; Brief analysis; Conclusions; Acknowledgements; References; Suggested citation.

Contents: Introduction; Identification of Key Biodiversity Areas; Key highlights from the process of KBAs identification; Conclusions; Acknowledgements; References; Suggested citation.

Contents: Introduction; Leopard; Striped Hyena; Eurasian Lynx; Brown Bear; Conclusions; Acknowledgements; References; Suggested citation.

Contents: Introduction; Eastern and Western Turs; Bezoar Goat; Mouflon; Goitered Gazelle (Djeiran); European Bison (Wisent); Northern Chamois; Red Deer; Conclusions; Acknowledgements; References; Suggested citation.

Caucasus-Anatolian-Hyrcanian Temperate Forests is a composite ecoregion that covers six terrestrial ecoregions located between and close to the Black and the Caspian seas. The conservation status of all six constituent ecoregions has been assessed by WWF as Critical/Endangered. According to the Global Deal for Nature, two of the six ecoregions (Nor...

Embedding monitoring in conservation efforts is crucial for developing proactive conservation and management strategies, and for evaluating their effectiveness. To work towards the long-term survival of leopard in the Caucasus, monitoring core populations, the connectivity among them, and prey availability is of high priority. Although the informat...

Aim: Populations of large ungulates are dwindling worldwide. This is especially so for wild sheep, which compete with livestock for forage, are disturbed by shepherds and their dogs, and are exposed to disease transmissions from livestock. Our aim was to assess spatial patterns in realized niche overlap between wild and domestic sheep to better und...

Aim Populations of large ungulates are dwindling worldwide. This is especially so for wild sheep, which compete with livestock for forage, are disturbed by shepherds and their dogs, and are exposed to disease transmissions from livestock. Our aim was to assess spatial patterns in realized niche overlap between wild and domestic sheep to better unde...

A case study of Adjara Autonomous Republic of Georgia to examine alternative scenarios for forest management and associated land cover change.

Understanding whether large cat populations are transboundary by nature is important for conservation planning. We here report transboundary movement by an adult male Persian leopard Panthera pardus tulliana (= P. p. ciscaucasica = P. p. saxicolor) in the Talysh Mountains of the Southern Caucasus. Between 12 and 13 July 2013 this leopard, named Ast...

Land-use is transforming habitats across the globe, thereby threatening wildlife. Large mammals are especially affected because they require large tracts of intact habitat and functioning corridors between core habitat areas. Accurate land-cover data is critical to identify core habitat areas and corridors, and medium resolution sensors such as Lan...

Recent discovery of leopard reproduction in two sites at the south-western rim of the Lesser Caucasus and the Talysh Mountains give hope for a recovery of this regionally Critically Endangered large cat. Increasing fragmentation of the entire range of the Persian leopard Panthera pardus tulliana may however hamper the natural recolonisation of the...

Protected areas (PAs) have long been the foundation of conservation strategies to halt biodiversity losses and ecosystem degradation. In the South Caucasus (SC), coverage of PAs increased after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, yet how well biodiversity is represented in them is unknown. We utilized the PA downgrading, downsizing and degaze...

Along with high degree of vascular plant endemism (more than 25%) the existence of two refugia of the Tertiary flora – Colchic and Hyrcanian – are the most unique features of the Caucasus ecoregion. Likewise, Colchic and Hyrcanian forests are classified as temperate rainforests.There are certain physical-geographical and biological similarities and...

Between January 2013 and October 2014, camera-trapping and field tracking monitoring of the Leopard (Panthera pardus) in the southern part of the Caucasus resulted in 220 photos and 26 videos depicting leopards, and 4 verified leopard scat samples identified by mtDNA analysis. Based on unique coating markings, 5-6 individuals were identified. The m...

Unless changes in the current “island spatial structure” of protected area systems are thought over, it is quite likely that protected areas will fail in fulfilling their objectives. This is because they will not be able to respond well just by themselves to threats such as a rapid change of climate, increment in habitat destruction and fragmentati...

Located in the eastern (E, SE, NE) portion of the Black Sea catchment basin (see figure 9-1), the climate of the Colchic region is moderately warm (24– 25°C) with cool (4–6°C) winters and abundant annual precipitation (typically 1,800–2,200 millimeters and up to 4,500 millimeters on Mount Mtirala).The Hyrcanic region covers the eastern slopes of th...

The leopard Panthera pardus is a Critically Endangered flagship species of the Caucasus. In 2007, conservation experts and institutions from all six Caucasian countries joined to develop a Strategy for the Conservation of the Leopard in the Caucasus Ecoregion, based on a review of the status of the leopard population and its prey (Cat News Special...

The Map of the Natural Vegetation of Europe was compiled and produced by an international team of leading geobotanists from 31 European countries over the period 1979 - 2003. The final results are available in printed and digital form, especially on an interactive CD-ROM with German and English texts. They include vegeta- tion maps at the scales of...

The report attempts to compile and analyze all existing data on leopards and their conservation in the Caucasus in the Caucasus creating the sound basis for the development of leopard conservation strategy for the entire region. The leopard was identified as top priority species by the Ecoregion Conservation Plan, a key strategic document for biodi...

Mapping classification and description of high mountain/subalpine vegetation of the Caucasus.

The geographical distribution of existing protected areas in the Caucasus Ecoregion was compared with the Caucasus portion of the Map of the Natural Vegetation of Europe in order to obtain a general appraisal of the coverage, representativity and sufficiency of the region’s Protected Areas network. Possible directions of its further development as...

Typological diversity of vegetation zonation on the mountains of the Caucasus is defined frrst of all by ( 1) the geographic transitional position of the region between temperate deciduous broad-leaved forests and subtropical latitudinal zones; (2) the location of different phytogeographical provinces (Mediterranean, Minor Asian, Iranian) in the co...

On the new map, high mountain vegetation of Georgia (Caucasus) is reflected more in details than on previous maps with similar contents.

Georgia (locally: Sakartvelo; Russian: Gruziya) is the ancient Greek name for the valley of Transcaucasia, home of the Kartveli people and of a very long cultural, agricultural and viticultural history dating back more than 3000 years. Natural landscapes

This paper is a short review of Colhkic vegetation wich is very rich in relics and endemics. The general distribution and contemporary ecological conditions of the vegetation are presented, with emphasis on evergreen Colkhic relicts. Apart from this summarised data for natural and introduced vegetation the relation to the global climatic change is...

1083 references related to vegetation of Caucasus Georgia and partly whole Caucasus are listed according to chapters: 1. Syntaxonomy, typology of plant communities; 2. Vegetation of the regions; 3 Phytocoenology; 4. Timberline; 5. Mapping, subdivision; 6. Methods, theory; 7. Flora of formations; 8. History of vegetation; 9. Phytomass, productivity;...

Most of geo-botanists who researched the Greater Caucasus state that there are no steppe plant communities in the high mountains of the Mountain Range. Our 7-years research in the relatively dry, north-eastern part of the Greater Caucasus (within Georgia’s borders) shows that here, in the sub-alpine zone, on the steep dry slopes facing south and ea...

The difference between volcanic bedrocks of Pleistocene and Jurassic schist in the high-mountains of the Central Caucasus does not facilitate the differentiation of soil acidity and types of phytococnosis. The soils of psychrophilous plant communities (with Rhododendron caucasicum or Kobresia spp. and Carex tristis) are more acid (pH = 4,6-5,5) tha...