Jan. 11, 2010
Recent environmental studies indicate that Turkey risks losing up to 70 percent of its local bird species in the near future. According to Ilhami Kiziroglu, professor of Biology at Ankara's Hacettepe University, up to 95 bird species are likely to suffer steep drops in population, while a further 101 species face possible extinction.
Habitat loss, and especially damage caused to wetlands, is mostly to blame for the crisis, the studies show. The Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster), for instance, has now disappeared from Lake Amik in Hatay; once an area where the Darter flourished and reproduced, the lake began to dry up in the 1960s. The Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita), a critically threatened bird species living, is now bred only in captivity, as "they all died" in the wild from a polluted environment, Kiziroglu told WorldBulletin. The scientist added that industrial dumps adjacent to the lakes and frequent takeoffs and landings from airports near wetlands also pose significant threats to the bird populations.
According to Kiziroglu, Turkey's total bird population, including migratory species, has declined by as much as half in the past 20 years, while the populations of some species have dropped as much as 75 percent.
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