Species co-occurence in coastal dunes in North of Turkey

Abstract

Plant co-occurence patterns were studied in coastal dunes in Central Black Sea Region of Turkey (North of Turkey) by the help of the checkerboard score (C-score), and the checkerboard score for abundance data (CA-score) along climatic and local gradients. There were significant differences along the local and climatic gradients with respect to both standardised C- and CA-scores. Standardised C- scores were found to be significantly different along sea-inland gradient except for fixed dune zone, while standardised CA-scores were significantly different in embryonic and main dune zones. Our results were supported HBR (humped-back relationships) hypothesis in studied coastal dunes because standardised scores were usually found to be > 0. In other words, segregation was prevailed in studied species rather than aggregation.