Türkiye is home to forest, mountain, steppe, wetland, coastal and marine ecosystems as well as a range of climates and geographies, boasting 3,703 endemic species.
According to information compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA) on the occasion of "May 22, International Biological Diversity Day" from the National Biodiversity Inventory and Monitoring Project (UBENIS) data of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, biological diversity provides countries with great power and opportunity on a global scale, especially in terms of genetic resources.
Türkiye, due to its geographical structure and various ecological conditions, is located where many important gene or origin centers of the world overlap.
The country has three vegetation regions, namely the Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian, and serves as a bridge between two continents.
For this reason, Türkiye has forest, mountain, steppe, wetland, coastal and marine ecosystems and a rich biodiversity, with different forms and combinations of these ecosystems as a result of the change in climatic and geographic characteristics.
Various projects have been implemented, such as conducting inventory and monitoring studies at the national level and establishing databases on biological diversity, which will serve the conservation and sustainable use of this biological diversity in the country.
These studies show that while there are 12,500 open- and closed-seeded plant species in Europe, approximately 11,700 species have been identified in Anatolia alone.
The ministry prepared the UBENIS to reveal the biodiversity, monitor its progress and eliminate inventory deficiencies.
Within the project's scope, studies were carried out on Türkiye's biodiversity inventory, which includes vascular plants, mammals, birds, inland fish, reptiles and cetaceans. The biodiversity inventory was created to cover all ecosystems across the country.
Future of 152 species in grave danger
As part of the project, biological diversity inventory studies at the provincial level began in 2013 and were completed in all 81 provinces by the end of 2019. Biological diversity inventory data collected from all over Türkiye was stored in the Noah's Ark National Biological Diversity Database, made available by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
UBENIS transferred data on flora, fauna, habitats and particular areas, increasing the total number of records to 1,901,000.
According to the database, out of 852,643 spatial observation points, 472,016 were animal points, 380,627 were plant points, and 13,404 plant and animal species were identified and included in the inventory. Of these species, 12,141 are plants, and 1,263 are animals.
3,703 endemic species across the country
Across the country, there are 3,703 endemic species, 428 of which are local and 3,275 regional. Of these, 3,497 are vascular plants, 163 are freshwater fish, 19 are reptiles, 15 are amphibians, and nine are mammals.
When plant and animal species are examined according to the categories of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it was determined that 117 species are "critically endangered," 152 species are "endangered," and 145 species are classified as "vulnerable."
Human activities threaten diversity
In addition, the potential economic value of species that can provide important economic input for Türkiye and information on the parts of these species were also determined.
Medicine and herbal medicine production, with 2,933 species, ranks first in this context. This is followed by meadow and pasture plants with 2,006 species, food with 1,964 species, genetic material with 1,872 species, landscape plants with 1,117 species, ornaments with 1,023 species, bee plants with 736 species, alternative medicine with 604 species, herbal tea with 548 species and essential oil with 416 species.
The studies identified the factors threatening plant and animal species across the country and created their proportional distribution.
Human activities topped the threats, followed by unconscious agricultural practices, climate change, construction, pollution, energy and mining, unconscious collection from nature, natural system changes, transportation, cultural and social threats, invasive species and geological events.