Investigation of degradation status of wetland soils in the Göller region in sunstrat levels

ABSTRACT INVESTIGATION OF DEGRADATION STATUS OF WETLAND SOILS IN THE GÖLLER REGION IN SUBSTRAT LEVELS Sevda ALTUNBAŞ Ph.D. in Soil Science Adviser: Assoc.Prof. Dr. Mustafa SARI August 2005, 155 pages Wetlands are one of the most important ecological system in the world. They have been degraded for many years by human being for severeal reasons such as healt of people, earn of agricultral lands and and others. In the world, especially in the arid regions, degradation of the old lake areas has been caused non-suitable conditions for ecological, social and cultural systems. It is known that is not a good idea to invert old lake areas to agricultural lands. On the other hand, we don't have enough knowledge about soil properties of degraded wetlands. Thus, the hydrological, the vegetative and the substrate criteria of the degraded wetlands should be examined as a whole system and also wetlands should be determined in different local environments. In addition, the management plans should be made for a sustainable land use. In this study, "Göller Yöresi" has chosen as a research area which is one of the richest areas for the wetland sources in Turkey. A total of three lake areas are chosen as the material of this study. While one of the lake areas has a trace of degradation, two others show higher levels of degradation. A total of six profiles was opened and evaluated in consideration of the international well-known wetland substrate criteria. According to the field studies and the results of the physical, chemical and the statistical analysis soil samples, Karagöl and Avian soils in Elmalı region which showed serious degradation signs have lost their wetland properties. It has been suggested that this lake soils should be transformed again into wetland environment. Söğüt 1 and Söğüt 2 profiles in the Söğüt region have lost their wetland properties comletely. Thus it is thought that it is impossible to re-transform this area into wetland environments again. A suitable land use planning should be prepared for a sustainable usage of the area. The Hoyran 1 and Hoyran 2 profiles in the Eğirdir Lake region have shown natural degradation properties. While the Hoyran 1 profile has still temporary wetland properties, the Hoyran 2 profile has lost its wetland qualification. Degradation of the land in this region should have prevented by the researces in different aspects. The research which has been carried out to determine the degradation status of the study areas showed that researches should be done by the consideration of hydrological, biological and subsrate properties of wetland soils as a whole system. KEY WORDS: Wetlands.indicators of wetland, wetland soils, hidric soils, degraded of wetlands COMMITEE: Assoc.Prof. Dr. Mustafa SARI Prof. Dr. Yusuf AYVAZ Prof. Dr. Bülent TOPKAYA Prof. Dr. Ali ERDO?AN Asst. Prof. Dr. Zeki ALAGÖZ 11