Assessing the resistance and resilience capacity of low elevation mediterranean woody vegetation to fire and climate change based on plant traits and recommendations for forestry practices

Mediterranean Basin includes vegetation types most exposed to fire and climate change. Recently, studies on plant traits provide information on how ecosystems work at the species and community level. The aim of this study was developing suggestions on forestry implementations for low altitude Mediterranean woody vegetation by revealing species diversity, species richness, functional group classifications (i.e. growth form, regeneration strategy, resprouting ability), leaf trait variations (i.e. specific leaf area, leaf thickness, leaf area), resilience and resistances capacities to fire and climate change by using plant traits, at species and community level. This thesis was conducted in Mediterranean vegetation dominated by Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) and maquis species in Köyceğiz, Marmaris and Datça regions in Muğla province, southwestern Anatolia (Turkey). Fieldworks were conducted in semi-closed Turkish red pine forests, open Turkish red pine forests, closed maquis shrublands, open maquis shrublands and scrubland. A total of 28 study sites were selected, and in each study site three 10 × 40 m belt transects were sampled. All woody plants in each transect were identified, and their locations, height and coverage were measured. Saplings were counted in the 5 × 10 m subsections in each belt transect. Besides that, leaf samples were collected from 857 individuals belonging to 38 woody plant species. Specific leaf area, leaf thickness and leaf area measurements of these samples were carried out in the field and laboratory. For assessing the resistance and resilience capacities of vegetation types to fire and climate change, 17 plant traits obtained from the field and literature were included in the analysis. The most striking distinction was differences among forest-shrubland-scrubland vegetation types, and shrublands had highest value regarding to species diversity and richness. In addition, functional group classifications, non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis and indicator species analyzes also revealed a sharp difference between open and closed habitats. Regarding to leaf trait variations, differences were found among plant species, functional groups and plant communities. Based on the results from leaf trait measurements, forests and shrublands are more resistant to drought, however scrublands are more successful to disturbances. Findings on resistance and resilience capacities to fire and climate change showed that open habitats are more resilient to both fire and climate change compared to closed habitats, and the resistance capacity to climate change is ranked as forest > shrubland > scrubland from the highest to the lowest, considering coverage of individuals. Finally, resistance and resilience capacities were inversely related, i.e. scrubland has the highest resilience but the lowest resistance capacity. Findings from this study revealed the differences among low altitude Mediterranean woody vegetations with respect to plant community parameters and plant functional traits. The results demonstrate the functional differences between open and closed vegetations in low altitude Mediterranean environments. This study provides new new insights for forestry implementations and conservation strategies to be applied in both maquis areas and Turkish red pine forests in Turkey by revealing the resistance and resilience potential of Mediterranean vegetation types to fire and climate change.