Cedar forest communities in Western Antalya (Taurus Mountains, Turkey)

Abstract

The most extensive and magnificent forests of Cedrus libani A. Rich. in the world are on the Taurus Mountains in Turkey. They cover an area of about 400,000 hectares. C. libani forms either pure stands or mixed stands with other tree species, such as Abies cilicica, Pinus nigra, P. brutia, Quercus species (Q. cerris, Q. infectoria, Q. libani etc.), Juniperus excelsa and J. foetidissima. In this work, the floristic composition of the cedar forests in Western Antalya has been investigated and the ecological factors have been measured. The main forest types have been established and correlated with the ecological factors. In total, 201 relevés were analyzed by numerical methods and classified into five groups of C. libani forests and one group of Q. coccifera scrublands. It was observed that the topographical gradient mainly determines the differentiation patterns of cedar forests in Western Antalya.

Keywords:

• Antalya
• Cedrus libani
• phytosociology
• Taurus Mountain

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Ministry of Forest and Environment. We would like to thank Dr. Andraž Čarni and the workers of the Biology Institute of the Scientific Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Art for their kind help during the usage of the computer programs and in the assessment of the data. We also thank Markus Meyer, Dr. Fahrettin Tilki, Dr. Barış Tecimen and Dr. Mehmet Yavuz for their help in editing and commenting on the manuscript.