Preliminary Assessment of Vegetation Diversity, Species Richness, and Habitat Heterogeneity in the Valleys of the Armutlu Peninsula (Türkiye)

Özcan M., Gülsoy S., Avcı M.

IConPB2025-4th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON PLANT BIOLOGY, Denizli, Türkiye, 3 - 06 Eylül 2025, ss.70, (Özet Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Denizli
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.70
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Turkey, renowned for its exceptional plant diversity, faces critical challenges in biodiversity conservation. Quantifying this diversity and uncovering the natural and anthropogenic factors influencing it are essential steps toward sustainable ecological management. With ongoing climate change and human impacts reshaping natural habitats, safeguarding this unique ecological heritage is increasingly urgent. The Armutlu Peninsula, situated within the Euxinian Province of the Euro-Siberian floristic region, exhibits climatic and vegetational contrasts. While the southern lowlands experience Mediterranean climate influence, an east–west watershed divides the peninsula into two distinct vegetation zones. North-facing slopes are dominated by humid forest communities, whereas dry forest formations prevail in the south. This study aims to assess differences in plant diversity between northern and southern valley systems and to identify their underlying ecological and climatic drivers.Four river basins were selected: Kocadere and İncirli (Karpuz) in the north, Yamandere and Büyükkumla in the south. Within these basins, twelve 400 m² quadrats were established and further subdivided into fortyeight 100 m² subplots. Plant specimens were collected from valley interiors and identified through herbarium comparisons. Alpha diversity (H′) was calculated using the Shannon– Wiener index via BİÇEB software, while beta diversity employed the universal Shannon entropy-based formula (Hara), and gamma diversity was assessed with the H_γ index.Pr eliminary surveys recorded 122 plant species across the study area. The Kocadere basin exhibited the highest alpha diversity (H′ =3.39243), whereas the Yamandere basin showed the
highest beta (H_β = 1.26606) and gamma (H_γ = 3.64200) diversity values. A decreasing trendin alpha diver sity from lower to upper valley courses was observed in northern basins, while southern valleys displayed higher overall plant diversity. Ongoing research aims to further clarify these spatial diversity patterns and their ecological determinants.