Bafa Lake Nature Park is one of Turkey's most important legally protected areas. This study aimed at analyzing spatial change in the park environment by using object-based classification technique and landscape structure metrics. SPOT 2X (1994) and ASTER (2005) images are the primary research materials. Results show that artificial surfaces, low maqui, garrigue, and moderately high maqui covers have increased and coniferous forests, arable lands, permanent crop, and high maqui covers have decreased; coniferous forest, high maqui, grassland, and saline areas are in a disappearance stage of the land transformation; and the landscape pattern is more fragmented outside the park boundaries. The management actions should support ongoing vegetation regeneration, mitigate transformation of vegetation structure to less dense and discontinuous cover, control the dynamics at the agricultural-natural landscape interface, and concentrate on relatively low but steady increase of artificial surfaces.

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Kusadasi is one of the prominent touristic and agricultural areas of Turkey. Kusadasi has grown exponentially for over 45 years due to domestic immigration and tourism. As a result urban sprawl occurred in the form of summer houses and touristic establishments. The development not only impinges on agricultural areas, but also it pressures the nearby national park system. Dilek Peninsula-Big Meander Delta National Park, in spite of its conservation status, faces significant challenges such as fire, water pollution, over grazing and hunting, exceeding visitor capacity during summer months, and thus the management actions focus on the interior dynamics. However, a greater threat is generated by the anthropogenic factors in the landscape context in which the parks are embedded. In a larger landscape scale, the interaction between the Kusadasi urban area and natural syste 1 ms could be critical for the successful management of the resources. Thus, the purpose of this study is to detect the magnitude of urban growth in Kusadasi area by using remote sensing and GIS technology. The initial findings indicate the loss of olive plantations due to expansion of summer houses and touristic establishments. Most of the settlements take place on coastal areas and prime agricultural soils. Once small villages of Kusadasi expanded spatially and emerged with neighbor villages hence leaving scarce amount of large open spaces in the landscape matrix. The edge effect increases on the national park due to unsustainable urban development in its close vicinity.I.

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