Wildlife of Turkey

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This article is an overview of the biodiversity of Turkey including animals, plants, fungi and human influence on the ecosystems. For more details of animals see Fauna of Turkey and for more details of plants see Flora of Turkey.

The wildlife of Turkey is abundant and diverse. Turkey is a large country with many geographic and climatic regions and a great diversity of plants and animals, each suited to its own particular habitat. About 1,500 species of vertebrates and 19,000 species of invertebrates have been recorded in the country. Some of the world's staple crops were first cultivated in this area and many of their wild relatives are still found here. The country acts as a crossroads for many birds during migration, connecting Europe, Asia, and the Near East.

Ecoregions

Mediterranean
to the south

The

European Turkey makes up only 3% of the country, with the rest being in Asia and often known as Anatolia
.

The country has varied topography with fertile coastal plains contrasting with mountainous regions in the centre and eastern part of the country. The climate of Turkey also varies, with the weather systems found near the coasts contrasting with those prevailing in the interior. The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. The interior of the country has a continental climate with severe weather on the Anatolian plateau in winter and hot, dry summers. These large differences in climate are reflected in an extremely diverse flora and fauna.[1]

The ecoregions of Turkey include the important[2] terrestrial Eastern Anatolian deciduous forests and Southern Anatolian montane conifer and deciduous forests. There are also small areas of bottomland forest.[3] Turkey includes portions of three biodiversity hotspots: the Mediterranean Basin, the Caucasus, and the Irano-Anatolian.[2]

Flora

Main article: Flora of Turkey
Flora of Akdoğan Mountains, Eastern Anatolia Region. Qûçan region is completely brown soil. Other places are semi-brown and consist of different types of soil.

Turkey is home to about 11,000 species of

Spanish broom and laurel.[6]

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, especially

Chenopodiaceae and Plumbaginaceae.[8]

The mountainous eastern half of the country is separated floristically from the rest of the country by the

Scots pine, burnet rose, dog-rose, oriental plane, alder, sweet chestnut, maple, Caucasian honeysuckle (Lonicera caucasica) and common juniper.[10]

Fauna

Main article: Fauna of Turkey
Human-made nests for Northern bald ibises in Birecik
Loggerhead sea turtle nesting places by the Mediterranean Sea

Turkey has a large range of habitat types and a great

endemic. The country is on two major routes used by migratory birds which increase in numbers during spring and autumn. The invertebrate fauna is also very diverse, with about 19,000 species being recorded including 4,000 endemics.[11]

Fungi

There are over 12,000 varieties of mushroom in Turkey, [12] some of which are edible.[13]

Threats

Threats to biodiversity include

rewilding.[19] Several marine fish and mammals have greatly declined, in part due to overfishing.[20]

Policy

Turkey enforced the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats from 1999,[21] but according to one study laws and legal decisions still had some deficiencies in 2019, especially regarding migratory species and international coordination.[22] The government plans to increase protected areas from the 9% in 2019 to 17% by 2023.[23] Official restrictions on access to environmental information[24] hamper biodiversity monitoring.[25] In 2020 it was suggested that more use of remote sensing and citizen science could help to make the first complete map of the nation's land cover.[25]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-92-5-130959-9
    .
  2. ^ a b "Animals and Plants Unique to Turkey". lntreasures.com. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  3. ^ Efe, Asuman; Alptekin, Ünal (1989). "ÖNEMLİ BİR SUBASAR ORMANI:HACIOSMAN (AN IMPORTANT BOTTOMLAND FOREST IN TURKEY)". forestist.org. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  4. ^ "Turkey's Flora". All about Turkey. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Eastern Europe: Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia: Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Southeastern Europe: Along the coastline of Greece and Turkey, stretching into Macedonia: Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrubs". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  7. ^ "Southeastern Europe: Western Turkey: Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrubs". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  8. ^ "Western Asia: Central Turkey: Temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  9. ISBN 978-3-319-12859-7
    .
  10. ^ "Turkey: Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests". World Wildlife Fund. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
  11. IUCN
    . 2012.
  12. ^ Team, The Guide (2018-09-10). "Fungi season: wild mushrooms in Turkey". The Guide Istanbul. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  13. ^ https://www.ogm.gov.tr/tr/e-kutuphane-sitesi/Yayinlar/Common%20Edible%20Mushrooms%20From%20T%C3%BCrkiye%20and%20the%20Mediterranean%20Basin.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. S2CID 134498356
  15. ISSN 1572-9761
    .
  16. ISSN 2149-7885
    .
  17. ^ "Efforts to protect biodiversity in Turkey still insufficient: NGO official - Turkey News". Hürriyet Daily News. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  18. ^ SABAH, DAILY (2021-01-21). "WWF Turkey starts campaign to combat water scarcity, save Meander". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  19. ^ ERDÖNMEZ, Cihan (2020). "Yeniden Yabanlaştırma: Ekosistem Yönetiminde Bir Yaklaşım" (in Turkish).
  20. ISSN 2296-7745
    .
  21. ^ Zeldin, Wendy (June 2013). "Regulations Concerning the Private Possession of Big Cats: Turkey | Law Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  22. S2CID 221258260
    .
  23. ^ "More areas to be preserved in bid to keep biodiversity intact". DailySabah. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  24. S2CID 242969625
    . Retrieved 2019-06-13 – via www.oecd-ilibrary.org.
  25. ^ a b Demi̇rbaş Çağlayan, Semi̇ha (2020). "An Appraisal of Biodiversity Monitoring in Turkey Within the Framework of Essential Biodiversity Variables" (PDF). Middle East Technical University.
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