Theflora of Turkey consists of almost 10,000 species of plants, as well as a number offungi andalgae. Around 32% of Turkey's plants are found only in the country.[1] One reason for the high proportion ofendemics is thatAnatolia is both mountainous and quite fragmented.[not verified in body] The country is divided into three main floristic areas: the Mediterranean, Euro-Siberian, and Irano-Tranian area.[2] The flora of the European part of Turkey is similar to that of adjoiningGreece. The ecoregions here includeBalkan mixed forests dominated byoaks,[3] andAegean and Western Turkey sclerophyllous and mixed forests where some of the main species are oaks,strawberry tree,Greek strawberry tree,Spanish broom andlaurel.[4] The country is at a meeting point of threephytogeographical regionsMediterranean,Euro-Siberian, andIrano-Turonian.[5][6] The region played a key role in the early cultivation ofwheat, othercereals, and varioushorticultural crops.[1]
The Euro-Siberian area is a mountainous part of western Turkey. Here the flora transitions from the Mediterranean vegetation type to the Anatolian plateau. The dominant vegetation cover here is forests of oak and pine, especiallyAnatolian black pine andTurkish pine.[7] Further east is theAnatolian plateau, a largely treeless area of plains and river basins at an average altitude of 1,000 m (3,300 ft). This area is characterised by hot dry summers and cold winters. Saltsteppes and lakes are found here, as well salt-freegrassland areas,marshes and freshwater systems. Immediately around the largeLake Tuz and other saline areas,saltmarsh plants grow, and beyond this is a sharp divide, with the flora being dominated by members of thefamiliesChenopodiaceae andPlumbaginaceae.[8]
The mountainous eastern half of the country is separated floristically from the rest of the country by theAnatolian diagonal, a floral break that crosses the country from the eastern end of the Black Sea to the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. Many species found to the east of this break are not found to the west and vice versa, and about four hundred species are only found along this divide.[9] The natural vegetation in eastern Turkey is theEastern Anatolian deciduous forests; in these oaks such asBrant's oak,Lebanon oak,Aleppo oak andMount Thabor's oak predominate in open woodland withScots pine,burnet rose,dog-rose,oriental plane,alder,sweet chestnut,maple, Caucasianhoneysuckle (Lonicera caucasica) andcommon juniper.[10]
Most European species are found in Turkey.[11] The most important reasons for the high plantbiodiversity are believed to be the relatively high proportion of endemics, together with the highvariety of soils andclimate of Turkey.
In Anatolia thePleistocene glaciations only covered the highest peaks, so there are many species with small ranges. In other words: Anatolia as a whole is a big “massif de refuge”, showing all degrees of past and recent speciation.
Naturally much of the vegetation would be steppe and forest,[12] however people have cleared much forest and their animals have changed the vegetation by grazing.[13]
A third of Turkish plant species are endemic to Turkey:[14] one reason there are so many is because the surface of Anatolia is both mountainous and quite fragmented. In fact, the Anatolian mountains resemble archipelagos like the famousGalapagos Islands. SinceDarwin we know that geographic isolation between islands or separated mountains is an important means ofspeciation, leading to high spatial diversity. For Anatolia this assumption is confirmed by concentrations of endemism on highly isolated and relatively oldmassifs such asUludağ and Ilgaz Dağ, whereas very young volcanic cones such asErciyes Dağ and Hassan Dağ are surprisingly poor in endemics.[citation needed]
For a visitor from Central Europe, climatic diversity within Turkey is quite astonishing. All climatic zones present in Europe can be found in Turkey on a somewhat smaller scale. TheBlack Sea coast is humid all year round, with the highest rainfall betweenRize andHopa. South of thePontic Range there is much less rain so Central Anatolia is dry; also it is cold in the winter. Approaching the southern and western coasts, the climate turns more and more Mediterranean, with mild but very rainy winters and dry, hot summers. This simple scheme is complicated a lot by the mountainous surface of Anatolia. On the high mountains, harsh climatic conditions persist all the year round and, as of 2019[update], there areglaciers in Turkey, for example onMount Ararat.[citation needed]
Anatolia's diversity ofsoils is astonishingly high. Saline soils are quite common in the driest parts of central Anatolia; additionally, the Aras valley betweenKağızman andArmenia is full of impressive salt outlets, some pouring directly out of the mountains and thus resembling snow patches from a distance. South ofSivas and around Gürün there are extensivegypsum hills with a very special flora. A further lot of endemics have been described from the extensiveserpentine areas in South-West Anatolia, especially Sandras Dağ (Cicekbaba D.) nearKöyceğiz.[citation needed]
TheAnatolian diagonal is an ecological dividing line that runs slant-wise across central and eastern Turkey from the northeastern corner of theMediterranean Sea to the southeastern part of theBlack Sea. Many species of plants that exist west of the diagonal are not present to the east, while others found to the east are not in the west. Of 550 species analysed, 135 were found to be "eastern" and 228 "western".[15] Besides the Anatolian diagonal forming a barrier to floralbiodiversity, about four hundred species of plant are endemic to the diagonal itself.[16]
With almost 400 species the genusAstragalus (milk-vetch, goat's-thorn;Fabaceae) has by far the most species of the Turkish flora; as historically humans have dramatically expanded its favored treeless, dry and heavily grazed habitats. But not as many asCentral Asia: the formerUSSR has twice as many. The plasticity of this genus is astonishingly high. Depending on environmental conditions a big variety of life forms evolved, ranging from tiny annuals to small woody and thorny bushes. Speciation seems to be in plain progress inAstragalus. Nearly all of its different sections consists of clusters of closely related species whose determination is one of the hardest tasks in a closer study of the Anatolian flora. One of the most successful growth forms of Turkish Astragali is the thorn cushion, which is very characteristic of the dry mountains of inner Anatolia. Such thorn cushions were not exclusively invented by many Astragali. Really striking examples ofconvergent evolution are the impressive thorn cushions ofOnobrychis cornuta, also belonging to the Fabaceae. But there are a lot of thorn cushions also inAcantholimon (Plumbaginaceae). Even someAsteraceae (in Turkey e.g.Centaurea urvillei, C. iberica) andCaryophyllaceae (e.g.Minuartia juniperina) evolved in that direction. Second in importance comesVerbascum (Scrophulariaceae) and third isCentaurea (Asteraceae). ForVerbascum Turkey evidently is the centre of distribution. Of approximately 360 species worldwide no less than 232 are to be found in Turkey, almost 80% of them being Anatolian endemics! MostVerbascum species are protected against water loss and hungry cattle by a dense cover of tree-shaped micro hairs.Centaurea species rarely have woolly hairs, but in defence against heavy grazing developed thornyphyllaries, or evolved to have no visible stem or a very short one.[citation needed]
There are over 700 species of moss.[17]
There are over 12,000 varieties of mushroom in Turkey,[18] some of which are edible.[19]
There are over 2000 taxa of freshwater algae.[20]
Forests cover almost a third ofTurkey. They are almost allstate-owned, and vary fromtemperate rainforest in the north-east tomaquis in the south and west.Pine,fir,oak andbeech are common.
After theglaciers retreated over ten thousand years ago, woods grew to cover most of the land which is now Turkey; however over thousands of years, many of the trees have been cut down.The country is slowly reforesting, which is beneficial forits wildlife and toabsorb carbon to help limitclimate change.
As of the mid-2020s, the main product of Turkey's forests is wood, and they are also important for recreation. Almost half the forest is badlydegraded, and the woodlands are threatened bydrought,wildfire,mining, andpests and diseases.
The main types ofsoil inTurkey arecalcisols,cambisols andleptosols, andfluvisols.[25]
By the mid-20th centuryerosion had reduced the amount ofarable land,[26] butthe government is combatingdesertification and erosion in various ways.[27] However, soil erosion is forecast to increase withclimate change, with about 30% occurring onagricultural land.[28] Degraded soil could be improved.[29]: 11 Soil surveys have been done at least since the 1950s,[30][31] and theMinistry of Agriculture has published soil maps.[32][33][34][35]
TheTurkish Foundation for Combating Soil Erosion is anon-governmental organization as is the Soil Science Society of Turkey.[36] A 2016 study said soil had been degraded and that there was great potential tosequester carbon.[37] There is a soil database (Toprak Bilge Sistem) but it is not public.[38] Increasingsoil organic carbon (SOC) in agricultural soils is important, and in 2017 total SOC down to 0.7 m was estimated at 9.23Pg.[39] Another estimate is slightly under 3000 tonnes/km2.[40] SOC is being measured and mapped.[41] Accumulation ofsoil organic matter depends partly on cultivation but can be hindered by aridity.[42]Steppe grassland is mostly inCentral andsoutheast Anatolia. Above 2000m in theBlack Sea Region there isAlpine grassland.[13]
The distribution of plants uses theWorld Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD). SeeList of codes used in the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions for its coding system. Turkey is divided into two botanical areas:
The Pontic mountain range along the north Anatolian coast is a more or less continuous barrier against humid air from the Black Sea, causing high precipitation on the northern slopes of thePontus all year. Climatic conditions on the northern coast therefore resemble those in central Europe and so does the vegetation. A limited Mediterranean influence is noticeable only on a very narrow coastal strip, but almost completely missing in the northeast. In the lower forest zone oftenHornbeam (Carpinus betulus) prevails, frequently intermingled withSweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa). Further up Oriental Beech (Fagus orientalis) and/or Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmanniana) form extensive forests. Humidity becomes extremely high in Lazistan, where the Pontic barrier culminates in the nearly 4000 m highKaçkar Mountains. East ofTrabzon therefore vegetation becomes somewhat sub-tropic, with a lot of evergreens in the forest and tea plantations everywhere on the slopes.
South of the Pontic watershed the climate immediately gets drier. In the mountains firstAbies nordmanniana, but then soonPinus becomes dominant. In the western parts of Anatolia this is often Black Pine (Pinus nigra), in the east nearly exclusively Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris). Penetrating further into the central parts of inner Anatolia leads to still dryer, wintercold conditions. Today the lower parts of central Anatolia are virtually treeless. Fields on deep alluvial soils alternate with steppe on the dryer hills. But it is still an open question where and to what degree this central Anatolian steppe is due to aridity or to humandeforestation.[43] Aridity is most pronounced aroundTuz Gölü south of Ankara and in the Aras-valley near the Armenian border. Between Kağizman andTuzluca this valley is so dry, that here and there pure salt deposits glitter like white snowfields on the bare slopes.
TheTaurus Mountains form the southern edge of the central Anatolian Plateau and are already very influenced by the Mediterranean, with a lot of snow in winter, but dry and warm summers. Climax forests are formed by Black Pine, Cilician Fir (Abies cilicica) and Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus libani). Unfortunately, there has been a lot of deforestation in the Taurus, most gravely affecting the stands of cedar. On the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts pronounced Mediterranean conditions prevail, with very hot and dry summers and very rainy winters.Antalya Province has considerably more total precipitation than, for example, the south of England (1071 mm versus 759 mm), but its seasonal distribution is completely different and the average temperature is of course much higher (18.3 °C versus 9.7°). But due to massive forest destruction hills and slopes in coastal West and South Anatolia are nowadays mostly covered withmaquis shrubland. Where fertile alluvial soils prevail, e.g. in the Cilician Plain aroundAdana, there is intense agriculture.
Mediterranean vegetation is resilient todrought.[44]
As local endemics take a long time to evolve, we also have to compare the history of the central and north European mountains with the Anatolian ones. During each of theglacial periods the former were covered by thick shields of permanent ice, which destroyed most pre-glacial endemism and hindered neo-endemics from forming. Only less glaciated, peripheral areas, the so-called “massifs de refuge”, offered suitable conditions for the survival of local endemics during glacial periods.
In Anatolia thePleistocene glaciations only covered the highest peaks, so there are many species with small ranges. In other words: Anatolia as a whole is a big "massif de refuge", showing all degrees of past and recent speciation.[45][page needed]
Without humans the main vegatation types would be steppe and forest.[13]Rangeland in Central Anatolia wasovergrazed, andrangeland management to limitsoil erosion has been suggested.[46] There is a national biodiversity action plan to 2028,[47] and anIUCN SSC Turkey Plant Red List Authority.[48] Potentially there could be moreforest in Turkey.[49] Technology is being used to revegetate steep slopes to try to preventdesertification.[50]
AVCI. M. 2005. "Çeşitlilik Ve Endemizm Açısından Türkiye’nin Bitki Örtüsü-Diversity and endemism in Turkey's Vegetation", İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Coğrafya Bölümü Coğrafya Dergisi 13:27-55.
Information for this article was taken mainly from:Flowers of Turkey - a photo guide.- 448 pp.– EigenverlagGerhard Pils (2006).
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