Observations on the floristic list of the Mersin collected from the highplateaus of Mersin By Ayşe Everest

Mersin University Research Herbarium (MERA) plants which are collected from Middle Taurus mountains are part of the Alpin-Himalayan system. In this research, the importance of these plants in terms of endemism and rare specimens is emphasized and they are compared with some of the Alpin and Himalayan plants. MERA is presented for the first time. The 5000 sheets of specimens were collected between 1996-2009. Our results indicate that Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, Poaceae are common families collected from the highplateaus in Gülnar, Bozyazı, Mut, Erdemli, Çamlıyayla and Tarsus province of Mersin.

There are a number of floristic and vegetation studies on the research area which covers the vegetation of Mut-Ermenek (Vural 1981), flora of Taşeli plateau (Sümbül and Erik 1988 a,b;1990 a,b) and the flora of Bolkar mountains (Çamlıyayla, Gözne, Aslanköy highplateaus) (Gemici 1994).When we consider all of the researches, the most prevalent families contained in these researches are respectively, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, Poaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Apiaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Boraginaceae, Rosaceae, Liliaceae and Rubiaceae.These materials collected are housed in EGE, GAZI, ANK and AKDU.
Over 250 million plant specimens exist in more than 3000 herbaria in over 150 countries.Of all those specimens, only a small percentage has been inventoried and even a smaller percentage of these is avaliable online (Krupnick et al 2008).MERA was established in 1996 and now 4931 vascular plants and 500 Cryptogamae is preserved there.These plants belong to C4-C5 grid area.

Geology and History
Caves dating from 570 million years ago in Mersin (Aydıncık and Silifke) provide a definite evidence for the expansion of the Taurus Mountains during the late Miocene period.The range of mountains such as those of Bolkar, Aladağ and Geyik emerged from the Mediterranean sea as a result of tectonic pressure.Today, the Taurus Mountains are still in motion (Demirtaşlı et al 1975(Demirtaşlı et al , Ünal et al 2001)).Various kinds of marine fossils can be found on all of the high plateaus, but fossils of freshwater forms, eg.crocodile appear in some areas of Dalakderesi, Avkadı and Mut.Year by year, vertical tectonic movement in the Taurus Mountains has given rise to rich karstic formations.Canyons like Göksu were cut by giant rivers.Some of the important canyons such as Çömelek, Sason, Kubat and Kestel can reach up to almost 100m depth.Also, other important valleys are Cocak, Cacık and Göksu valleys.
Such valleys developed owing to the rise of the entire Taurus range from the sea, their rivers carved their beds early in the Quarternary period.Sometimes it is possible to estimate the depth of these rivers by investigating the cuts they have through the rock.In Mut, the Göksu river has cut a depth of 1000m, and the Cocak near Cehennemdere, to a depth of 1500m through the Dümbelek Plateau (Atalay 1994).The typical formation of the Taurus mountains are Miocene sediments with clay, marn and limestones derived from the sea.
Series of caves appear at 1000meters in various localities, including Çamlıyayla and Kozlar.In the Tertiary period, a tropical climate allowed the growth of Pistacia, Quercus, Olea and Cistus.Also in present, Taxodium distichum and Liquidamber orientalis, continue to flourish as plantation trees in Tarsus, Karabucak.A change to a colder climate occurred in the Quarternery period, as indicated by the arrival of Carpinus orientalis, Cornus sanquinea and Taxus baccata (Çamlıyayla) in the Mediterranean Region (Seçmen 1996).

The forest trees in Mersin highplateaus
Pinus brutia is widespread in Mersin.Also, the high plateaus have P. nigra in high level.Aslanköy, Abanoz, Güzeloluk, Bozyazı high plateaus, support the oldest forest of Pinus brutia.In the southern area, Cedrus libani has been living for a long time together with species of P. nigra.
On the grazed slopes in the steppe sector, at altitudes around 2000meters, Juniperus excelsa, J. foeditissima are common.Generally, garique vegetation is common in the arid and damaged areas, at 50-100meters, typically including Sarcopoterium spinosum, Cistus salvifolius, C. creticus and Thymus cilicicus.

The relationship of the people to the forests
The people of the high plateaus engage in animal breeding, agriculture and forestry.The microclimate zones allow the growth of oranges, kiwi and Diospyros kaki fruits and various vegetables, such as in Aslanköy, Sutras.
Grazing is particularly prevalent on the alpine slopes because it is a traditional practice in the world.The herdsmen reach the different alpine zones from the middle of March to September and during this period most of the young plants are eliminated from these areas because of premature grazing.The nomadic people live in stone shelters or tents "çadır" , just like "yurt " in Kyrgyz , while their flocks seek the cover of oak trees.
Sometimes, owing to the climate or the need for veterinary attention, the flocks will be brought down the mountain for a short time.
It seems that, in undisturbed areas, some of the shrubs which grow in open areas can become to form tall trees, for example, Q. coccifera in Aslanköy and Çamlıyayla.Against destroying forests, one of the preventive plans by the Forest Ministery is to increase the number of nursery-gardens (Baki et al 1998).Also, in the last years, different "memory forests" are developed by the Forest Ministry and tracking activities, trips and camping facilites are organised.One of the tracking centres is Medetsiz summit (3524 m) in the Bolkar Mountains.
Erdemli pine plantations, the Alata research center, Hundreth century Conservation Park, City Forest and Kayacı valley are famous recreation centres in Mersin.Also, Gülek, Karboğaz area in Mersin was reorganized for turism in 2008.It is clear that the original forest cover (red pines, oaks, fir, junipers, cedar) has existed from the ancient geological periods to the present day.In ancient times, the felling of timber for foreign export has destroyed much of the vegetation in Mersin than in Adana.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this research, in general the observations of the collected plants from Mersin highplateaus (Middle Taurus Mountains) is presented.These plants are housed in MERA in Biology Department.The plant species were identified according to Davis (1985) and Güner et al (2000).
The climate is generally Mediterranean, with hot summers and mild winters (Met. gen. bull. 1974).The Taurus Mountain range tends to have wet winters and dry summers, with an average annual rainfall of 750-1350 mm.Most of the total rainfall in the mountains occurs as snow in winter or smog ( in summer and winter).Within this general pattern of rainfall there are wide local variations.The alpine level has a slightly terrestrial climate.Rainfall is surely the most important factor after altitude as an influence on the composition of the high plateaus flora.In both winter and summer, the research area experiences long hours of daylight.

Research area
Mersin contains about 64 high plateaus.High plateaus is known as 'yayla' in Turkey.They have many visitors in Summer, but in winter they are generally populated only by local people.In spring, the people like to move from their villages to the high steppe areas.The names of some localities in the highplateau reflect the nature of their vegetation.Examples include Daffodil Mount, Pine Valley, Yellow Water, etc.Additionally, names like Red Mountain, Red Area, Red Vineyard refer to the colour of the Mediterranean soil.
The research area is in the Mediterranean region of Turkey and extends westward from the Taşeli plateau to Ceyhan River, and northward, from the coast to the middle Taurus Mountains.The phytogeography of Mersin is influenced by Bolkar and Geyik Mountains.Several wetlands, such as Bakır, Göksu, Lamas, Deliçay and Berdan which contain many significant migration routes of birds, play an important role in the ecological stability of southern Turkey.Furthermore, Mediterranean, Irano-Turanien and relic Euro-Siberian elements grow in the research area (Figure 1).In this area, especially the riversides of Anamur, Bakır, Göksu, Lamas, Berdan and Deliçay contain new recorded plants such as Flueggea anatolica from Berdan riversides in Çamlıyayla; Yalamık village (Gemici 1994) and Jurinea cyprea in Göksu riversides.

The soil types of Mersin
With the effect of climate, topography and plant vegetation, major soil groups have developed in the highplateaux in the following ways: 1. Colluvial soils: The accumulation soils on the sides of hills and deep valleys can be seen at different altitudes 2. Brown forest soils: Basic materials with high CaCO 3 content can be seen later Mersin-Tarsus Redzinal soil and continuous the boundary of Konya ,is separeted from the villages and have a high limestone content.
Meanwhile Mersin Research Herbariums records can preserve these endemic plants by Red List categories (Ekim et al 2000): LR (nt) 64 sp., LR ( cd) 27 sp, LR ( lc) 148 sp, VU 46 sp, EN 22 sp, DD 11 sp ve CR 5 sp.The categories given as not only endemic but also rare species were total of 5 of DD, 6 of VU and 1 EN (Ekim et al 2000).As rare species Spinacia tetrandra DD, Halopeplis amplexicaulis EN, Astragalus drusorum var.maroniticus VU, Potentilla libatonica DD, Erica sicula ssp.libatonica VU, Stachys inflata VU, Calamintha betulifolia DD, Citrullus colocynthis VU, Gentiana brachyphylla subsp.favrotti DD, Potentilla libanotica DD, Zygophyllum album VU and Scilla silicica VU are collected in Mersin.(Gümüş, 1992) 6.5 10.5 9.7 6.6 6.3 6.6 5.5 5.8 -4.7 -318 Tahir (Gümüş, 1992;2007 The Alps are famous for their rich and multi coloured flora, estimated in approx.4500 different species: more than 500 are exclusive of the Alps, 180 species are endemic of the Western Alps and the other 70 species widely spread over the mountain range.Some areas of the Western Alps are rich in flora; in the Liguria and Maritime Alps 2660 different species accounting for 60 % of the French flora could be found (http://www.whc.unesco.org.).The flora of the mountains of Central Asia, is a mix of Boreal, Siberian, Mongolian, Indo-Himalayan and Iranian elements.There are more than 5500 known species of vascular plants in the hotspots of which about 1500 are endemic while only Bolkars have 1710 endemics.Likewise, vegetation of Afganistan have 5000 species and 20-30 % of these species are endemics (Kaul 1997, Muratgeldiyev et al 2007, Ballabh et al 2007).Juglans regia, Amgdalus communis, Cerasus mahalep and Pyrus, Prunus, Acer species grow in the steppe and meadow zones of the mountains Tien Shan and Taurus.
On the river sides, there are Populus, Salix, Juglans, Fraxinus, Berberis, Pyrus and Acer.Moreover, on valley floors with sand dunes, there are Artemisia, Berberis, Ephedra, Origanum, Salicornia and Tamarix shrubs.Origanum, Achillea, Artemisia, Geranium, Euphorbia, Allium, Salvia, Clematis, Campanula and Silene are common and widespread plants in Toluk valley (Everest and Türker 2009 ).As can be seen in the Polunin' s floristical list, Asteraceae and Fabaceae are principle families in Himalaya highplateaux, and other the most common families are Orchidaceae, Lamiaceae, Brassicaceae, Liliaceae, Rosaceae (Polunin 1999).However, these results are changeable due to the number of the collected materials.For example, Asteraceae and Poaceae are presented as an example of the principle families in the research of Savoie University (Dobremez et al, 2000).Also, it is possible to find some differences in the most of the genera in Polunin' s list.
As Allendorf pointed out that over 100 000 protected areas accounted for 12 % of the world's land area and these protected areas were seen as a key strategy to conserve diversity.If protected areas are to be conserved over the long term, management must address local residents' concerns and integrate them into management strategies (Allendorf 2007).
Generally, the main risk of the highplateux are pasturage and settlement, also cutting down trees and burning some schrubs.The subalpine and alpine zone of Central Alps has probably been changed by grazing which can be seen by the growth of such plants as Mutellina, Scorzonera and Lotus which are the indicators of this change (Meyer et al 2008).
Biological reserve areas of Middle Taurus, such as Çamlıyayla, Anamur, Gülnar and Erdemli highplateaus with forest and relic areas should be protected.Environmental values of these highplateaus provide the clean water, wildlife and recreation activities.Natural and cultural values of these highplateaus provide not only economic benefits, but also quality of life values cherished by many.
In substance, MERA (Mersin University Research Herbarium), built in 1996, contains a total number of about 5000 plants.These plants symbolize the highplateaus.
The sample plants most similarly reflect the highplateaus of Mersin, as well as the Beşparmak Mountains of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Nice Maritime Alps and Mediterranean region.And it contains a wide number of samples of the Alpine-Himalayan-Taurus Mountain range.By gathering wide range of samples from both local and overseas travels, research projects and graduate theses, MERA has been formed in years.We hope that the introduction & presentation of this herbarium abroad, may be first realised.
3. Non-limestone brown forest soils: On the serpentine, crystalline CaCO 3 , under the forest and shrubs.Poor in CaCO 3 Brown soils: Vicinity of Adana: Tufanbeyli, Kahramanmaraş and Niğde are the boundary.4. Red Mediterranean soils: From the northeast of Silifke extends north of Erdemli to the boundary of Konya and contains ferric ions (Fe Red brown Meditteranean soils: the low altitude, and flat areas than from Red Mediterrainean soils on cement, crystal cancer, pebble materials develop (Köy Hizmetleri 1991).

Table 1 .
The general families which contain endemic species in Middle Taurus:

Table 2 .
The comparison of the some genera with other areas:

Table 3 .
The comparison of the families with other research areas: