Page 262 - 7. State Of Environment Report Of Türkiye

Native Arabian Horse Southeastern Anatolia
Uzunyayla Horse Kayseri, Sivas

Canik Horse Black Sea Region
Malakan Horse Kars
Arabian Horse Southeastern Anatolia

POULTRY
Native Chicken All Regions
Denizli Breed Denizli and neighbourhoods

Gerze Breed Sinop
Naked Neck Muğla
Zile Breed Sivas
Native turkeys All over the country

Native Geese All over the country
Native Ducks All over the country
Ankara Rabbit All over the country

Agricultural installations in Türkiye are small, fragmented and disorganised. This structure, which
has negative consequences for agricultural production, creates an advantage in terms of biodi-
versity as it provides small habitats that allow wild plant and animal species to live. On the other
hand, the fact that agricultural areas are generally located within steppe ecosystems makes it
difficult to distinguish between agricultural biodiversity and steppe biodiversity. For this reason,
these two ecosystem structures are considered together.

F.1.5. Forest Biodiversity

The forest ecosystem in Türkiye covers a total area of 23,363,071 hectares (30% of the country’s
total area), including 9,654,099 hectares of hollow closed forests. Coniferous forests are more
common in Türkiye (32% broad-leaved trees, 47% coniferous, 21% mixed). Coniferous trees are
found at all altitudes from sea level to the upper limit of forests. In the Aegean and Mediterrane-
an regions, moist, semi-moist, coniferous and dry forests (oak, black and red pine) are found in
addition to scrub and maquis.

Topographical structure, climate and soil differences have made Türkiye’s forests very rich in
terms of plant diversity. One of the main reasons for this richness is the climate changes that
occurred in the fourth geological period. Approximately one third of the plant species in Türkiye
are from the old geological periods and most of them are endemic. Most of the endemic species
are found in the Mediterranean Plant Geography (especially in the Taurus Bolkar and Nur Moun-
tains) and Iran-Turanian Plant Geography Regions.

In Türkiye, there are many ecosystems based on both ecological and floristic composition of fo-
rest habitats and the function of each ecosystem is more or less different from each other. These
rich forest ecosystems of Türkiye provide habitats for many endemic plant species, important
bird species and many wildlife species. Again, in these ecosystems, there are wild relatives of
many cultivated plants that are important in terms of agricultural biodiversity.

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