PERSPECTIVE ON FOREST BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS FOR PROTECTED AREAS: A COMPARISON OF TURKISH AND SWEDISH FOREST EXPERT OPINIONS

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative analysis of expert opinions on forest biodiversity indicators for protected areas, using a questionnaire given to forest experts in Turkey and Sweden. Experts were selected according to whether they had studied or worked in areas related to biodiversity, protected areas and sustainable forest management. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the differences between the opinions of Swedish and Turkish experts regarding the indicators. The experts from both countries considered "endemic species" and "naturalness" as the most important indicators, while "overused species", "forest distribution and regeneration", "carrying capacity in terms of important species of area" and "the existence of different conservation status of protected areas" were considered equally as the least important indicators. The most important difference between the two groups was related to the indicators "dead wood" and "hollow trees", which Swedish experts found more important than their Turkish counterparts. Two other large differences were that the Swedish experts found "litter layer" much more important and Turkish experts instead found "plant species composition" much more important. The differences between the two groups reveal different perspectives regarding the planning and management of protected areas in each respective country.