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Tag Archives: climate change
Ruveyda’s Internship at the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, METU Institute of Marine Sciences
Our lab member, Rüveyda Zehra Ögütverici, completed her internship in June 2025 at the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory of the METU Institute of Marine Sciences (Mersin), where she worked with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Korhan Özkan and his research team.
During her internship, she participated in ongoing mesocosm experiments designed to simulate warming and salinization scenarios under future climate change conditions. Her work included sample collection and the measurement of physicochemical variables such as pH, chlorophyll-a, and nutrients, as well as involvement in heatwave and salinization experiments.
Through this experience, she gained hands-on training in ecological measurements and developed insights into carbon cycling, the functional roles of sediments, zooplankton, and phytoplankton, and the ecological impacts of heatwaves and salinization in lake ecosystems.
We sincerely thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Korhan Özkan and the Aquatic Ecology Laboratory team for their mentorship, support, and collaboration.
Nurbahar successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis
Our researcher, Nurbahar Usta, has successfully completed and defended her PhD thesis entitled “Dynamics of Trojan Fir Forests in Mount Ida and the Possible Effects of Climate Change on These Dynamics” and has officially graduated on December 18, 2025.
We congratulate her on this important academic milestone and wish her continued success in her future endeavors.
Lab visit by Dr. Jalil Noroozi
On Monday, July 14, 2025, our lab had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Jalil Noroozi from the University of Vienna for a research article discussion session.
During the visit, we discussed his recent co-authored paper:
“Plant endemic diversity in the Irano-Anatolian global biodiversity hotspot is dramatically threatened by future climate change” (Moradi, Noroozi & Fourcade, 2025 – Biological Conservation).
We sincerely thank Dr. Noroozi for the inspiring discussion and generous knowledge sharing!
Seed Ecology VII
Recently, the 7th edition of the Seed Ecology Conference took place in Gijón/Xixón, Asturias, Spain, from September 6 to September 9, 2022. This prestigious event gathered seed scientists worldwide to discuss the latest research and advancements in seed ecology.
During this conference, our lab PI, Çağatay, presented the first results of our TÜBİTAK project on the possible physio-ecological effects of climate change on central Anatolian steppe plants in his presentation titled “Germination patterns under climate change in the plants of the Central Anatolian steppe“. This presentation highlighted our initial findings and shed light on how temperature, drought, and salinity impact the physiology and ecology of the plant species in this unexplored ecosystem.
The conference proved highly productive, providing a platform for Çağatay to engage with fellow researchers and seed scientists. The exchange of ideas and insights during the event has sparked new research questions and potential avenues for future studies. Interacting with other experts in the field has opened up possibilities for collaboration on seed ecology.
We are looking forward to the next Seed Ecology conference planned to be held in Panama in 2025.
Elif successfully defended her MSc thesis
Elif Deniz Ülker, our lab member, successfully defended her MSc thesis after an impressive presentation in Department of Biology at Hacettepe University on 10th June 2015. Her MSc study was about the effect of the Late Quaternary climate changes on the geographic distribution in Quercus robur (Pedunculate oak) and was supervised by Çağatay Tavşanoğlu and Utku Perktaş.
Functional Ecology Lab 