Throughout the past century, vegetation scientists have been studying plant communities to develop classification standards for global mapping purposes. In Turkey, although there are several vegetation classification schemes in use by botanists, foresters or geographers, none is widely accepted by all for vegetation mapping. In this study, a hierarchical, ecologically meaningful, physiognomic-floristic classification system was adapted and developed for terrestrial vegetation in Turkey. The system has eight hierarchical levels, with the alliance and the association as its lowest two floristic levels, and the classes are designed to be easily detected in the field or indirectly through remote sensing. To test of its utility, a supervised vegetation classification of the whole Mediterranean Region of Turkey was carried out using Landsat ETM images. The accuracy of the classification ranged between 55% and 69% depending on the level of hierarchy. A further test for its ecological utility was carried out by comparing identified vegetation classes with breeding bird communities derived from data gathered through field observations at 193 ecological communities at 83 sites. The proposed classification scheme has proven to be reasonably accurate when widely available satellite imagery is used and ecologically meaningful as shown by a high concordance with observed bird community patterns. It is suggested that this new system can be safely applied to other regions of Turkey for purposes of vegetation mapping, species habitat modeling, and nature conservation if proper image set and ancillary data is used.

Centaurea tchihatcheffii Fisch. &amp / Mey. is a critically endangered annual endemic plant found only in Ankara. This study aimed to determine its distributional range, metapopulation status, the effects of agricultural activities, and assess conservation options. Occurrences and population size estimates were carried out by ground surveys. Two adjacent subpopulations were intensively studied during 2004-2008. Plant and seed demographic data were collected in the field and by laboratory tests. Field experiments simulated the effects of agricultural practices. Risks of extinction and possible impacts of different management actions were investigated through a population viability analysis (PVA) by constructing a two-stage stochastic model. Six scenarios involving different management actions were run with 10,000 replications each using RAMAS Metapop. A total of 14 patchily distributed subpopulations were found to have an extent of occurrence of &gt / 700 km2. Herbicide applications caused extreme mortality and reduced germination success, and were shown to be the major anthropogenic threat against long-term survival of C. tchihatcheffii. Tillage led to an increase in density and reproductive success in the following year. PVA simulations for most scenarios predicted extinction of both subpopulations within 4 to 95 years, but a conservation management scenario involving delayed tillage ensured viable populations with a combined size of 21 million individuals. PVA results demonstrated that timing and frequency of tillage is crucial. Therefore, we propose tillage to be carried out after seed set every other year for protected subpopulations to ensure their long term persistence. Alternatively, unprotected subpopulations elsewhere can benefit from organic or nature-friendly farming.

The characteristic staminal lever mechanism is defined as a functional unit including the modification of stamens into lever-like structures, their reversible movement and the organisation with the remaining floral structures and they are involved in the process of pollen transfer. The staminal levers play a major role in the process of pollen deposition on the pollinators&rsquo / body and their proportion and interaction with pollinators may have significant consequences for the pollination system in Salvia. In this study, staminal lever mechanism and floral diversity of bee pollinated species including Salvia absconditiflora, Salvia aethiopis, Salvia russellii, Salvia tchihatcheffii which grow sympatrically are investigated in the campus flora of Middle East Technical University. The functioning of the staminal lever mechanism is tested and pollinators of the Salvia species are observed by field investigations. Special attention is given to species-specific patterns of pollen deposition on the pollinators&rsquo / body. Floral diversity of the Salvia species such as corolla shape, size, colour, stamen type are studied. Floral and pollinator structures are measured morphometrically by laboratory investigations. Moreover, the isolation mechanism among the co-occuring Salvia species are investigated by field observations. All field observations are backed by photos and video recordings. Field and laboratory investigations revealed that co-occuring Salvia species are reproductively isolated by several means and the diversity of floral constructions and staminal lever mechanism increases the mechanical isolation by attracting different pollinators and by loading pollen on different parts of their bodies.