Vegetation Database of the Shahdag Region, Azerbaijan

The outstanding phytodiversity of the Caucasus region is partly threatened by livestock grazing.In the study "Proper Utilisation of Grasslands in Azerbaijan's Steppe and Mountains: an Ecological and Socio-Economic Assessment to Avoid Overgrazing and to Ensure Sustainable Rural Development" funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, we assessed on 222 plots in the years 2007 and 2008 the effects of grazing on high mountain grassland vegetation, species composition and the productivity.The relevés have been assigned to 13 unranked communities in four main groups: five xerophytic subalpine communities (mainly innermontane/ southern slopes), three mesophytic subalpine communities (mainly northern slopes), one community of nitrophilous camp site lawns and four alpine communities (publication in prep.).