Maquis vegetation is a shrubland type that expands across the Mediterranean Basin. Although this vegetation type comprises high diversity of plants, the forestry law in Turkey does not consider them as part of forest and therefore there are some questions that have not yet been clarified in terms of forestry implementations such as non-wood production, sustainable forestry, conservation strategies.
Within the project entitled “Integrating maquis vegetation to forest management plans in Turkey” funded by Rufford Foundation, the research team studied plant diversity and regeneration strategies in woody plant communities. The authors of this study gathered maquis vegetation types in 5 groups: semi-closed forest, open forest, closed shrubland, open shrubland and scrubland. Researchers found clear distinctions in diversity, species composition and functional structure especially between the forest-shrubland-scrubland vegetation types. The results also suggest that open and closed vegetation states of forest and shrubland differ from each other.
Within this study, it has been revealed that more detailed studies on plant diversity should be conducted on the differences between maquis vegetation types. Thus, appropriate strategies for future forestry activities will be put forward and handled separately for each vegetation type.
Full reference
Tüfekcioğlu, İ., & Tavşanoğlu, Ç. 2022. Diversity and regeneration strategies in woody plant communities of the Mediterranean Basin: Vegetation type matters. Plant Biosystems-An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology, (just-accepted), 1-17.
