Editing Temperate rainforest (section)

====Colchian (Colchis) rainforests (Bulgaria, Turkey and Georgia)====
{{Main|Euxine–Colchic deciduous forests}}

The Colchian rainforests are found around both the southeast and west corners of the Black Sea starting in [[Bulgaria]] all the way to [[Turkey]] and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and are part of the [[Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests]] ecoregion, together with the drier Euxine forests further west. The Colchian rainforests are mixed, with deciduous [[Alnus glutinosa|black alder]] ''(Alnus glutinosa)'', hornbeam (''[[Carpinus betulus]]'' and ''[[Carpinus orientalis|C. orientalis]]''), [[Oriental beech]] (''Fagus orientalis''), and [[sweet chestnut]] ''(Castanea sativa)'' together with evergreen [[Nordmann fir]] (''Abies nordmanniana'', the tallest tree in Europe at 78 m), [[Caucasian spruce]] (''Picea orientalis'') and [[Scots pine]] (''Pinus sylvestris'').
The refugium is the largest throughout the Western Asian{{nbsp}}/ near Eastern region.<ref>Zazanashvili N, Sanadiradze G, Bukhnikashvili A, Kandaurov A, Tarkhnishvili D. (2004). "Caucasus", pp. 148–153 in Mittermaier RA, Gil PG, Hoffmann M, Pilgrim J, Brooks T, Mittermaier CG, Lamoreux J, da Fonseca GAB (eds.) ''Hotspots revisited, Earth's biologically richest and most endangered terrestrial ecoregions''. Sierra Madre: CEMEX/Agrupacion Sierra Madre.</ref><ref>van Zeist W, Bottema S. (1991). ''Late Quaternary vegetation of the Near East''. Weisbaden: Reichert, {{ISBN|3882265302}}.</ref><ref name=tgm/> The area has multiple representatives of [[disjunct distribution|disjunct]] [[Relict (biology)|relict]] groups of plants with the closest relatives in Eastern Asia, southern Europe, and even North America.<ref name=Milne/><ref>Kikvidze Z, Ohsawa M. (1999) "Adjara, East Mediterranean refuge of Tertiary vegetation", pp. 297–315 in: Ohsawa M, Wildpret W, Arco MD (eds.) Anaga Cloud Forest, a comparative study on evergreen broad-leaved forests and trees of the Canary Islands and Japan. Chiba: Chiba University Publications.</ref><ref name=Denk/> Over 70 species of forest snails of the region are endemic.<ref name=Pokryszko/> Some relict species of vertebrates are [[Caucasian parsley frog]], [[Caucasian salamander]], [[Robert's snow vole]] and [[Caucasian grouse]]; they are almost entirely endemic groups of animals such as lizards of genus ''[[Darevskia]]''. In general, [[species composition]] of this refugium is quite distinct and differs from that of the other Western Eurasian refugia.<ref name=tgm /> 
Genetic data suggest that the Colchis temperate rainforest, during the [[Last Glacial Period|Ice Age]], was fragmented into smaller parts; in particular, evolutionary lineages of the [[Caucasian Salamander]] from the central and south-western Colchis remained isolated from one another during the entire Ice Age.<ref name=Tarkhnishvili/>