Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM)

I am grateful to the Turkish General Directorate of Forestry for letting me conduct research in their forests, and to the forestry authorities in Isparta, Eğirdir, Sütçüler and Yalvaç for help and information. Mustafa Avcı, Adnan Güller, Hasan Eryiğit, Sibel Korkmaz and Özlem Gafar provided useful logistic support, while Halis Bereket, Mehmet Çakir, Osman Mücahit Doğan, Ayhan Başpinar, Kazım Kanlı, Nevzat Akyüz and İsmail Tuncer assisted in the field. Mats Niklasson, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), helped me with the dendrology analyses of drill cores. Last but not least I acknowledge the valuable help from my supervisors Dr. Nicklas Jansson and Prof. Per Milberg, my senior teachers Karl-Olof Bergman, Lars Westerberg and Bo Ebenman as well as from my co-students. The study was financially supported by ERASMUS and through a “Minor Field Studies” scholarship grant provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).