The Areal Effects of Climate Change on the Dominant Tree Species and Associations on Kaz Mount

Abstract

Kaz Mount is a special geographical structure which has a powerful natural richness. Its natural forest area is nearly 60% of vicinity of Kaz Mount which contains the area of 1823 km2. The natural forest area of Kaz Mount has the population and associations of Pinus brutia, Pinus nigra, Quercus, Abies, Fagus and Castanea. It is investigated in this study that how the dominant tree species and associations of Kaz Mount will be effected by Climate Change areally. It is used the digital data of Forest Management Plans and the annual temperature and precipitation of Kaz Mount and the methods in Mapinfo Professional 2017 program. It is also used Erinç and Emberger Climate Classifications. Results generally showed that per-humid and humid climatic conditions were replaced by semi-humid and semi-arid climate conditions in the dominant tree populations and associations of Kaz Mount within the range of 2016-2040; 2041-2070 and 2071-2099 according to GFDL-ESM-2M projection and the scenarios of RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5.

Keywords: Kaz Mount, Tree Species, Associations, Forest, Climate Change.

DOI: 10.7176/JSTR/6-04-08