Estimation of Biodiversity of Eastern Black Sea Mixed Forests in Turkey

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity, the variety of life, has been recognized as one of the key components of environmental sustainability. Human actions, however, often lead to irreversible losses in terms of diversity of life on earth. So importance of measurement of biological diversity is increasing and need for biodiversity assessment methods to enable biodiversity to be measured is outlined. The biodiversity indices are statistical method which is planned to evaluate the variety of a data group consisting of different types of components. Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey is rich in biodiversity compared to other regions and endemism is high. Eastern Black Sea forest is dominated by Picea orientalis, Abies spp., Pinus sylvestris, Fagus orientalis, Quercus ssp., Castanea satvia, Alnus glutinosa, Carpinus betulus and Fraxinus angustifolia. Data were collected 40 temporary sample plots from the mixed stands of Karadeniz Technical University Research Forest in Eastern Black Sea Region. In this study, aim to compare biodiversity using biodiversity indices such as Shannon-Weaner Index, Simpson Index, MacArthur Index, Pielou Regularity Index. The calculations are based on species composition as well as basal area distribution