Ecoregions of Turkey: A holistic geographical approach

Ecoregions are recognized as important platforms where areas with similar geographical conditions are classified and defined in the process of sustainable management of the environment-society relationship. These platforms are guides that can help overcome anthropogenic impacts such as climate change, biodiversity loss and unsustainable land use, and reference models where it is possible to assess and monitor the impacts of natural dynamics and human activities. "Ecoregions of Turkey: A Holistic Geographical Approach" aims to create an up-to-date map of Turkey's ecological regions with a holistic and relational approach, new data and methods by evaluating the zoning studies from 1926 to the present day in the context of literature critique. In line with this purpose, 21 input geographical variables were first identified from 5 main environmental conditions in the application process, and the geographical variables were synthesized with the Lebart model after the preliminary preparation process in the GIS environment. The map of Turkey's ecological regions produced on the basis of the Lebart model offers a high level of detail with a high resolution of 6 km2 and legend table information in a reproducible structure that can be tested and defended with statistical indicators at every stage. The ecoregions map and legend table of Turkey, obtained as the main finding, includes 20 regions presented in four main clusters and sub-clusters. As a result, Turkey's ecoregions map and legend table have been produced with a structure that is successful in distinguishing Turkey's rich environmental diversity, where each input variable is represented in the output map, sensitive in discovering patterns, capable of providing descriptive and relational attribute information, and has the capacity to be associated with environmental variables, events and phenomena with originality and accuracy. The study has the potential to contribute to the environment-society relationship as a synthesis language of environmental literacy on the basis of the methodological process it follows and the findings it reveals. At the same time, it fills an important gap in terms of analyzing the big spatial data, which is increasing exponentially in today's world and whose analysis has become a problem, and defining its pattern.