Monitoring the Effects of 18 Mart Çan Thermal Power Plant on Kazdağı Fir Ecosystems (an 8-Year Old Study)

Abstract

Monitoring of forest ecosystems and their health conditions has gained more importance in the last decades. In 1970’s, after occurrences of forest dieback due to air pollution and acid rains in Europe, monitoring activities have started for determining the effects of air pollution on forest ecosystems. Afterwards, the studies have been extended to complete monitoring of forest ecosystems. The Kaz Mountains are one of the most important forest areas in Turkey and they are placed at the crossroad of Aegean and Marmara Regions, with different climate types. Before the establishment of the “18 Mart Çan Thermal Power Plant”, the need for monitoring has been noticed because the air drift and wind direction might affect primarily the Kaz Mountains. Kazdağı Fir (Abies nordmanniana subsp. equi- troj ani) is an endemic taxon in the Kaz Mountains and it might be affected, too. Therefore monitoring activities have started with the support of the Electricity Company (EÜAŞ). Through 2002–2008 years, soil and needle samples have been collected twice a year from three Kazdağı Fir populations and analyzed in laboratory for sulfur content by turbid metric method. There are significant differences between localities and years for both soil and needle analyses.