From grazing to green: unraveling the ecological consequences of transhumance decline in Turkey’s Mediterranean mountains.

Göktepe, Serdar

Transhumance, a millennia-old pastoral practice, has been instrumental in shaping the cultural, ecological and socioeconomic fabric of Turkey’s Mediterranean mountains while providing a range of ecosystem services. However, profound socio-economic shifts, policy constraints, and land-use changes have led to its rapid decline, triggering cascading environmental consequences. This study investigates the spatial and temporal associations between transhumance decline and land use/cover changes (LULC) along four transhumance migration routes in Turkey’s Mediterranean Mountains over the past three decades. The migration routes of transhumant goat flocks were recorded using GPS collars. Digital Elevation Model data were sourced from the U.S. Geological Survey and analyzed using ArcGIS software to...