Reassessment of conservation status of the genus Salvia (Lamiaceae) in Turkey II [Türkiyede yayilis gösteren Salvia (Lamiaceae) cinsinin koruma statüsünün yeniden de?erlendirilmesi II]

The current conservation status of the Salvia L. (sage) taxa of the family Lamiaceae distributed in the East, South-East, Central, North Anatolian, and Marmara geographic regions of Turkey was reassessed at regional, national, and global levels using IUCN Red List categories and criteria. In accordance with the present taxonomic revision of the genus since 2005, the study area seems to cover 79 taxa, 36 of which are endemic and 4 of which are rare nonendemic; the remaining 39 taxa are widely distributed. The rate of endemism is 46% in the area. Based on new field observations of populations and distribution data, taxa were classified into the following threat categories at the global scale: Critically Endangered (CR) (5 taxa), Endangered (EN) (8 taxa), Vulnerable (VU) (11 taxa), Near Threatened (NT) (12 taxa), and Least Concern (LC) (43 taxa). The most threatened species at the global scale are S. anatolica, S. ballsiana, S. freyniana, S. odontochlamys, and S. pseudeuphratica. The threatened taxa are under pressure from intensive human activities such as overgrazing, construction (e.g., road construction), land clearing (e.g., agricultural activities), and urbanisation. The threatened endemic taxa are concentrated in 3 main areas. The first area includes Sivas, Divri?i, Gürün, Pinarbaşi{dotless}, and Kemaliye. The second area includes Ankara, Beypazari{dotless}, Polatli{dotless}, and Sivrihisar. The third area includes Yozgat, Akda?madeni, Nevşehir, and Kayseri. Some significant measures are recommended here for the conservation and management of the high number of endemic taxa under threat in the research area. © TÜBİTAK