Insect Biodiversity of Turkey

Abstract

The rapidly increasing world population creates more need for shelter, transportation, energy, and nutrition, leading to the construction of new settlements and agricultural areas, making habitats fragmented, endangering many species and a significant portion of local populations. Biodiversity is adversely affected by the deterioration of the functioning, and the integrity of habitat ecosystems. Insects, which constitute an important part of the animal kingdom, and exist all over the globe, affect human life both directly and indirectly, and are an indispensable part of the food chain; yet insect diversity is also under serious threat. Anatolia is a land where rich habitat and climate diversity are observed, being as rich as the whole of continental Europe in terms of plant and insect diversity on its own. In this review, the origins of, and the contributing factors to, insect diversity in Turkey is examined through data on a few specific insect groups that dwell steppe, aquatic, cave, and mountainous regions.