COST Action E 52 - vTI - Bund.de

egions reach down to the Murat Mountain in the inner Aegian region. In addition to these dense
oriental beech forests there are small marginal populations in central Anatolia and in the southern
part of Turkey. The oriental beech forests in the southern part of Turkey, particularly in the Amanos
Mountains and Adana-Maraş districts, are relic populations. In contrast, European beech which has
its main distribution in the European subatlantic climatic regions has a very limited distribution in
Turkey. There are also some scattered populations in the Kaz Mountains and in Kütahya-Simav.
Optimal growing conditions for oriental beech are found at the altitude ranging from 00 m to
1,200 m. As the thermal requirement for the species is higher than for fir and spruce, it cannot
grow at high altitudes but there are some exceptions. The altitudinal minimum for oriental beech
populations is in the locality of Sinop-Bektaşağa from sea level to 30 m along the Black Sea coast. The
altitudinal maximum of oriental beech is recorded in the eastern Black Sea Region in the location
of Artvin-Yusufeli at 2,100 m. From an economic viewpoint, oriental beech is the most important
broadleaved species in Turkey.
Proximity to the sea and climate have positive effects on length of beech vegetation period. Therefore
the relatively more temperate, moist and high precipitation areas, as found in parts of the Black Sea
region such as in parts of the Marmara Region, are the most suitable lands for growing beech.
The wood of oriental beech has a reddish white colour and reddish brown heartwood formation
occurs when the trees reach the age of 80 to 100 years. Beech wood is classified as of medium density
(0.66 g.cm- ³). As a hardwood species, the wood is heavy, hard, strong and highly resistant to shock. It
is also suitable for steam bending. Nevertheless, the main use of oriental beech wood is for fuel, but
there are other uses such as particleboard, furniture, flooring veneer, mining poles (props), railway
sleepers and the paper industry (Kandemir, Kaya 2009). According to research on the wood quality
of beech from samples which were taken as cross sections from trees grown at different altitudes,
Photo 1: Oriental beech forest compete with Rhododendron ponticum (KANDEMIR 2008)
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