Vertical climate zones in Biga peninsula: The impact of climate change and air pollution on forests

Biga Peninsula is situated in between Marmara Sea and Aegean Sea. The peninsula consists of the hilly and mountainous mass between Biga and Can on North, Kaz Mountains on South, and Koca Cay Basin lying in between those two masses. The northern oriented slopes of the peninsula are under the influence of "Marmara climate", which originates from Black Sea region and is cool and humid. The western part of the peninsula is cooler due to the northern winds passing through the Dardanelles. The slopes oriented towards Aegean Sea are under the influence of Mediterranean climate which is warm and humid (arid in summers). These distinct climate characteristics combined with the changes in altitude at various areas lead to unique vertical climate zones in Biga Peninsula. The composition of forests in Biga Peninsula reflects the features of vertical climate zones. While the northern forests show more variation; olive, Calabrian Pine (Pinus brutia) and Black Pine (Pinus nigra) dominate the southern species

THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN FOREST DISTRIBUTIONS AND SUMMER DROUGHT RELATED TO GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN TURKEY

In Turkey, continental tropical air movements originating from North Africa and Middle East become dominant, especially in summers. This change in climate brings about dry and hot climatic conditions which generally continue for a long time throughout the summer in the regions outside of the Black Sea Region and North-East Anatolia Region. Ecological processes, such as evapotranspiration and photosynthesis, generally depend on the meteorological conditions that can limit the lives of trees. From this perspective, meteorological conditions become effective in the vegetation period affecting the lives of trees. Thornthwaite has developed the precipitation efficiency formula which sets forth the relation between potential evapotranspiration and precipitation. In terms of finding out the relations between plants and the area they spread out, it is important to investigate on which conditions the regional changes of precipitation efficiency depend

Properties of STAT1 and IRF1 enhancers and the influence of SNPs

Abstract Background STAT1 and IRF1 collaborate to induce interferon-γ (IFNγ) stimulated genes (ISGs), but the extent to which they act alone or together is unclear. The effect of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on in vivo binding is also largely unknown. Results We show that IRF1 binds at proximal or distant ISG sites twice as often as STAT1, increasing to sixfold at the MHC class I locus. STAT1 almost always bound with IRF1, while most IRF1 binding events were isolated. Dual binding sites at remote or proximal enhancers distinguished ISGs that were responsive to IFNγ versus cell-specific resistant ISGs, which showed fewer and mainly single binding events. Surprisingly, inducibility in one cell type predicted ISG-responsiveness in other cells. Several dbSNPs overlapped with STAT1 and IRF1 binding motifs, and we developed methodology to rapidly assess their effects. We show that in silico prediction of SNP effects accurately reflects altered binding both in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions These data reveal broad cooperation between STAT1 and IRF1, explain cell type specific differences in ISG-responsiveness, and identify genetic variants that may participate in the pathogenesis of immune disorders