Within the boundaries of the Tekirdağ Forest Management Directorate, the prominent ecosystem service categories can be listed as; primarily cultural ecosystem services (recreation areas, trekking, paragliding, tourist sites like Naip Castle and Bahçeköy Waterfall); provisioning services (honey forests, wood production, economically beneficial products like walnuts, linden, and mushrooms), regulating services (important water sources like Naip Stream and Küçükkoca Stream, carbon sequestration potential, erosion and flood prevention), and supporting services (rich biological diversity, presence of species like roe deer and Ottoman viper).
Wildlife: Wild Boar, Roe Deer, Fox, Jackal, Wolf, Rabbit
Cultural Ecosystem Services: Recreation
Provisioning Services: Honey forests, Wood production, Non-Wood Forest Products
Regulating Services: Water resource management, Carbon sequestration potential, Erosion and flood prevention
Supporting Services: Habitat Provision
Vulnerable Forest Ecosystem Service Areas:
Located in Tekirdağ Province, the Kuştepe, Ganoşlar, and Tekirdağ Forest Management Chiefdoms lie in transitional zones where forested areas along the Marmara Sea coastline border highly productive agricultural lands. These zones are embedded within an agricultural matrix dominated by large-scale cultivation of crops such as sunflower and wheat, alongside widespread viticulture and fruit farming. Under this intense production pressure, forest ecosystems experience boundary loss; practices such as forest clearing, field expansion, and the uncontrolled dumping of agricultural waste compromise habitat integrity.
The excessive use of chemical inputs further disrupts the structure of soils and degrades groundwater quality, leading to changes in forest vegetation composition and hindering natural regeneration processes. This fragile dynamic between agriculture and forestry is critical not only for maintaining biodiversity but also for sustaining the carbon sequestration capacity of forests and the broader suite of climate-related ecosystem services.
Climate change adds another layer of vulnerability to the region. According to current projections, average temperatures are expected to rise by 3.4 °C, while annual precipitation is projected to decline by 30–40 mm between 2070 and 2100. These changes are likely to directly affect local water regimes and pose significant threats to forest ecosystems. Species such as pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) and hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), especially in lowland areas, are expected to be particularly susceptible to these climatic shifts.
