An assessment of nothern black sea coastal vegetation with the perspective of landscape architecture

Coastal areas form interesting landscape characters in the world, as well as Turkey. Assessment of the environment in coastal areas that are consequences of natural events or interventions based on the perspective of landscape architecture is significant in sustainable landscape planning and design studies that would be conducted in coastal areas. One of the important coastal areas in Turkey, Eastern Black Sea Region includes coastal habitats that differ in climate and topographical features with a rich plant diversity and a dynamic visual effect. Thus, within the context of the present study, current natural data for coastal areas at Eastern Black Seaboard (from Ordu provincial border to the Georgian national border) where the destruction still continues every day and the vegetation structure and environmental relationships were determined using statistical analyses and plant characteristics based on landscape architecture applications were discussed. In the field study conducted within the context of this research, 11 habitat classes were determined in 141 sampling areas based on EUNIS and 218 different plant species were identified where the three with the highest frequency were Ficus carica L. (56.74), Robinia pseudoacacia L. (%51.77), Torilis arvensis (HUDS.) LINK subsp. arvensis (HUDS.) LINK (%50.35). Determined plant species were assessed floristically, and for the application, plant characteristics (urban tolerance, landscape effect, functionality, renewal feature and economic feature) were scored to determine the prominent plants and their characteristics based on the statistical analyses. As a result, it was observed that vegetation diversity identified in coastal regions was significant and urban tolerance and landscape effect properties were prominent in application-oriented design of plant selection criteria. Furthermore, recommendations were made for the use of determined plant species in landscape design work based on their characteristics. The results of the present study consist of the basic data that demonstrates the current status of Eastern Black Sea coastal area vegetation structure.