By Yildiz Nevin Gundogmus
ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye has kicked off a research project to investigate, register, and protect the country’s terrestrial and underwater caves.
The project will register 27 terrestrial and three sea caves as natural assets of Turkiye, according to sources at Turkiye’s Directorate General for Preservation of Natural Heritage -- which works under the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change.
Research will be conducted in the provinces of Konya, Kastamonu, Kocaeli, Eskisehir, Izmir, Bilecik, Mugla, Antalya, Isparta, Sakarya, Bursa, Bitlis, Trabzon, Sakarya, Karaman and Mersin.
Under the project, the sea caves will be explored for the first time. The Kirkgozler cave in Antalya’s Dosemealti district, Suluin cave in Finike district and Kaynak cave in Mersin's Aydincik district will be registered and protected.
The ministry is also working to reveal the geological and ecological characteristics of natural caves in the country.
Projects are being carried out in different regions to register and protect the caves.
In the last three years, Turkiye registered and took under protection 99 caves across the country. In this context, 290 other caves have been identified so far.
Cave ecosystems host rich biodiversity providing habitat and breeding ground to various vertebrates, including bats, some rodents, frogs and reptiles, as well as various invertebrates and endemic plant species.
In the caves identified, many animals, including rare species, were found, and 25 new species were brought to the scientific world. The majority of these new species are invertebrates.