Ellenberg's indicator values for soil nitrogen concentration and pH in selected swamp forests in the Central Black Sea region of Turkey

Abstract

Ellenberg developed a system that assigns indicator scores for habitat characteristics of individual plant species. Swamp forests are highly diverse ecological communities and include different plant species, all of which have different ecological requirements. Ellenberg's indicator values (EIVs) were calculated for soil pH and nitrogen (N) concentration in some swamp forest species in the Central Black Sea region of Turkey. In this study, the EIVs for soil pH were usually similar in the swamp forest species studied, while some differences were found with respect to EIVs for soil nitrogen concentration. Tolerance values (TVs) of all of the studied species were higher than those reported in similar studies because EIVs and species abundance were high in the present study compared to similar studies. TVs (soil pH) were higher in Galeric Forest than in the other 2 swamp forests. The differences among the swamp forest species studied with respect to EIVs might be explained on the basis of soil heterogeneity, even on a local scale.