Impacts of climate change on Georgia’s mountain ecosystems

Abstract

Georgia, as well as the whole world, is under the impact of global climate change. The high mountainous zone is one of the most vulnerable to climate change ecosystems here, which has been identified as a sensitive area to various disastrous weather events. The latter is significantly enhanced by global warming. The evaluation of climate change impact on the mountain landscapes of Georgia and identification of the landscapes characterized by high sensitivity to particular threats was the goal of our study. Stress has been laid on the landscape-forming oro-climatic factors, landscape diversity, territorial distribution of mountain landscapes, phytomass and soil-edaphic conditions, ecological functions, and anthropogenic transformation of mountain landscapes. The dynamics of air temperature, precipitation, droughts, winds, geo-conditions, and evaluation of landscape sensitivity to climate change in Georgia has been analyzed at length.