Ecoregions of the Mediterranean Area and the Lakes Region of Turkey

The Mediterranean climate prevailing on the coastal belt of the Mediterranean Sea undergoes to change toward the inner part of the Anatolia in accordance with the increase of altitude, mountain range barriers, the tectonic structure of the region, and tectonic-karstic depressions. Continentality also plays a critical role in the micro-climates that prevail across the various eco-regions. This study is focused the division of ecosystems, depending on climate and topographic effects. Two main eco-regions are established: 1) The Mediterranean zonobiome, and 2) the Mediterranean transitional biome, extending between the Mediterranean zonobiome and 3) Inner Anatolian Continental zonobiome that can be called the zonoecotone. The Mediterranean zonobiome, which covers the southern slopes of the Taurus Mountains that abruptly rise on the coastal belt of Mediterranean Sea, is divided into orobiomes, pedobiomes, hydrobiome, etc. In this zonobiome, the main bio-graphical occurrences are the red pine (Pinus brutia) and maquis vegetation. The Mediterranean orobiome starts after the Pinus brutia forests and rises up to 2000 meters in altitude on which cedar, Taurus fir and black pine grow. The second orobiome is mountain grass areas containing subalpine grass and some steppe vegetation. The Mediterranean Transitional Region covers the backward section or the northern part of the Taurus Mountains built on a tectonic structure and on tectonic-karstic depressions on which alluvial plains and lakes occur. This region is divided into the bottom of the tectonic depression and the orobiomes with forest and subalpine orobiomes, and hydrobiomes surrounding of the lakes.