Lithological context of source-audited nickel hyperaccumulator and accumulator plant records in Türkiye: A descriptive geobotanical synthesis

Published records of nickel (Ni) hyperaccumulator and accumulator plants in Türkiye are relevant to serpentine ecology, metallophyte biogeography and future field studies. However, the available records differ markedly in physiological support, taxonomic treatment and spatial precision. This study compiled 66 source-linked candidate evidence entries from accessible literature syntheses and primary research. Each entry links a taxon reported in a source to the available Ni-related evidence and locality information recoverable from that source; it is not equivalent to an independent occurrence record, a unique locality or a newly confirmed Ni-hyperaccumulator observation. An additional 88 GBIF occurrence records were screened separately for occurrence-data quality and possible specimen context and were not used as direct physiological evidence of Ni accumulation. A descriptive lithological-context map was prepared in Google Earth Engine using the MTA 1:500,000 lithological dataset and an attribute-based crosswalk of core Ni-relevant lithologies and broader ophiolitic context units. The map displays 12 unique A-class source-supported localities representing 14 A-class taxon–locality associations, together with one C-class representative locality. At the evidence-entry level, the final spatial-confidence distribution was A=12, B=0, C=1, D=51 and E=2. Rather than proposing a national occurrence model or a revised estimate of Ni-hyperaccumulator richness, the study identifies which published evidence is suitable for descriptive spatial interpretation and which records require further verification.