Indicator plant species of alpha diversity in Kuyucak Mountain district

Abstract

A forest ecosystem with high species diversity is more resistant and healthy to all kinds of hazards such as fire, insect, pollution sources. Species diversity plays an important role for sustainability of the ecosystems. It is measured at alpha, beta and gamma scales. This study was carried out to define the positive indicatory plants of alpha diversity of woody plants. We used the data (presence-absence data for plant taxa) obtained from the Kuyucak Mountain District which lying in roughly north-south direction and located in the transmission zone of the Mediterranean region. Simpson diversity (1-λ), Shannon-Wienner, Brillouin, Menhinick, Margalef, Fisher α, reciprocal of Berger Parker (1/d) and Chao1 indices were used to measure alpha diversity at each sample plot. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test statistic was used to examine the relationships between the indices of species diversity and binary data of the species. After defining the positive indicator plants of woody plant diversity by considering all indices, the Wilcoxon Rank-Sum test was re-applied by omitting in order those species to ensure their indicator values. As a result of the analysis, it was found that Fontanesia philliraeoides Labill., Phillyrea latifolia L. and Pistacia terebinthus L. are most likely to be the positive indicator plants for woody and subsgrub plant diversity.

Keywords

• biyolojik çeşitlilik
• gösterge tür
• akdeniz bölgesi
• orman ekosistemleri
• biodiversity
• indicator species
• mediterranean region
• forest ecosystems