Coastal Dunes of East Mediterranean Features of Endemic Ononidetum hispanicae Association

Abstract

Ononidetumhispanicae association is endemic on coastal dunes of East Mediterranean inTurkey. This association is identifed in Çaltıcak1, Çaltıcak2, Göynük, Kemer of Antalya province, in Taşucu,Sazbaşı and Susanoğlu of Mersin province and Muğla province. The associationconsists of grasses whose lentgh vary between 5 and 50 cm. Theassociation’s  dominant species areOnonis hispanicae, Cynodon dactylon, Echium plantagineum, Paronchia argentea,Pancratium maritimum, Cyperus capitatus, Polygonum equisetiforme and Euphorbiaparalias. It is an association of perennial vegetation on coastal dunes. Theobjectives of this study are investigation of the relationship between plantassociations and the environment, especially the soil. Plant associations werefound out to have displayed not only properties of soil, but also the way plantassociations interact with it. The work area is coastal dunes as the type ofland. Mediterranean floristic region of about 50 vascular plants have beenidentified within the study area. Most of the work place is filled withquaternary type of land. Stations in the study area, The central Mediterranean(WASS) and the Eastern Mediterranean I. Type (WSAS) precipitation regimes showand the work place has “Rainy Sub Soft, Rainy Sub Hot, A Little Rainy Warm, Alittle Rainy Soft” Mediterranean Bioclimate. Alluvial soils exist in the group' s study field. Water saturationpercentage is lower than of 36 % of the sand soils structure. % Watersaturation ratio is high on Mersin-Silifke coastal dunes. Humidity percentage is high Antalya-Göynük  coastal dunes. Obviously, distribution ofgrain sizes plays key roles on vegetation on coastal dunes. Coastal sand dunesrange from small to large grain sizes. The rate of small sand is high. The soilsamples taken from the group are very little salty, very highly calcareous(21,64-55,61) on Mersin-Silifke and Taşucu coastal dunes, pH (7,6-7,8) slightlyalkaline on Mersin-Susanoğlu coastal dunes and other coastal dunes are stronglyalkaline.