Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:29:34.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary and modern distribution of forest and some tree taxa in Turkey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

Sytze Bottema
Sytze Bottema
Affiliation:
Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, Groningen State University, Poststraat 6, 9712 ER Groningen, The Netherlands
Get access

Synopsis

A broad outline is presented of forest distribution in Turkey during the last 15,000 years, based upon palynological evidence. The history of some selected taxa is given in more detail and compared with present day distributions. Considerable differences in forest composition were found between the mountain ranges N of the Anatolian plateau, the ranges S and SW of the plateau and the area SE of the eastern (Cilician) Taurus. Pinus dominated the northern part during most of the Late Glacial and the Holocene. In southwestern Anatolia a strong increase of Pinus halted SE of the Konya plain and this taxon did not cross the eastern Taurus. Cedrus and Abies fluctuated in relative importance during the period under discussion, but no marked shifts in the distribution are suggested by the pollen record. After c. 9000 BP, oak started to move into the treeless interior, especially in the SE where this tree settled on higher elevations in the steppe area. On the edges of the Anatolian plateau, oak acted as a pioneer, to be replaced by pine in the course of the Holocene. Birch, nowadays restricted mainly to higher elevations in eastern Turkey, was common in the Konya area during the last phase of the Late Glacial and the early Holocene. Beech increased in numbers during the second half of the Holocene. After the Late Glacial, mixed deciduous forest, rich in tree species, developed in the mountains of NW Turkey. It is assumed that in the Pleniglacial most of these species were present along the Black Sea coast, at lower elevations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 89: Plant Life of South-West Asia , 1986 , pp. 103 - 111
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aytuǧ, B., Merev, N. & Edis, G. 1975. Sürmene-Agaçbaş,i Dolaylari Lâdin Ormaninin Tarihi ve Geleceǧi. Tarim ve Ormancilik Araştirma Grubu 39.Google Scholar
Beug, H.-J. 1967. Contributions to the Postglacial Vegetational History of Northern Turkey. Quaternary Palaeoecology 7, 349–356.Google Scholar
Bottema, S. & Zeist, W. van 1981. Palynological evidence for the climatic history of the Near East, 50,000–6,000 B.P. In Colloques internationaux du CNRS, No. 598: Préhistoire du Levant, Maison de l'Orient, Lyon, 10–14 juin 1980. Paris: Editions du CNRS, 111–132.Google Scholar
Davis, P. H., ed. 1965–1985. Flora of Turkey. 9 vols. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Harita Genel Müdürlüǧü 1962. Türkiye Orman ve Aǧaçciklarinun Yayilişi. Orman Genel Müdürlüǧü Yayinlarindan.Google Scholar
Zeist, W. van & Bottema, S. 1982. Reflections on a Holocene subdivision of the Near East. In Chronostratigraphic subdivision of the Holocene, eds Mangerud, J. et al. Striae 16, 36–39.Google Scholar
Zeist, W. van Timmers, R. W. & Bottema, S. 1970. Studies of modern and Holocene pollen precipitation in southeastern Turkey. Palaeohistoria 14, 19–39.Google Scholar
Zeist, W. van & Woldring, H. 1978a. A pollen profile from Lake Van: a preliminary report. In The Geology of Lake Van, eds. Degens, E. T. & Kurtman, F. pp. 115–123. Ankara: MTA Press. 169.Google Scholar
Zeist, W. van & Woldring, H. 1978b. A Postglacial pollen diagram from Lake Van in East Anatolia. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 26, 249–276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeist, W. van, Woldring, H. & Stapert, D. 1975. Late Quaternary vegetation and climate of southwestern Turkey. Palaeohistoria 17, 53–143.Google Scholar