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Fine-scale spatial patterns of the Tertiary relict Zelkova abelicea (Ulmaceae) indicate possible processes contributing to its persistence to climate changes

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Abstract

In this paper, the fine-scale spatial patterns of the Tertiary relict Zelkova abelicea (Lam.) Boiss. were studied (1) to reveal processes that contributed to its persistence to climate changes and (2) to assist future conservation planning, with the purpose of shifting the attention of conservation practitioners from patterns to processes. Results of the fine-scale spatial patterns of Z. abelicea indicate that the species tolerates disturbance and/or tracks changes resulting from disturbance in the range of its distribution through morphological and reproductive plasticity. In addition, our study indicates that Z. abelicea populations are conserved in the absence of metapopulation structure and that the species participates in plant–plant interactions through facilitation processes. Hence, the persistence of the species to climate changes seems to be more complicated and multifactorial than a linear and plain view of species survival in climate refugial areas, and therefore calls for a consideration of the processes revealed in this paper in future conservation planning.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Vaios Kalogrias (University of Crete) for his help with GIS, we thank Robin Pakeman (Macaulay Institute) for his suggestions and we are grateful for the very constructive comments of two reviewers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Crete, P.O.Box 2208, 71409, Heraklion, Greece

    Marta Bosque, Maria-Irene Adamogianni, Michael Bariotakis & Stergios Pirintsos

  2. Department of Biology and Botanic Garden, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Laurence Fazan & Gregor Kozlowski

  3. Climatic Change and Climate Impacts, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Route de Drize 7, 1227, Carouge, Switzerland

    Laurence Fazan & Markus Stoffel

  4. Dendrolab.ch, Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1-3, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Markus Stoffel

  5. Institute of Plant Genetics, National Research Council (CNR), Corso Calatafimi 414, 90129, Palermo, Italy

    Giuseppe Garfi

  6. Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3BW, UK

    Joachim Gratzfeld

  7. Natural History Museum, Chemin du Musée 6, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Gregor Kozlowski

  8. Botanical Garden, University of Crete, Gallos Campus, 74100, Rethymnon, Greece

    Stergios Pirintsos

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  1. Marta Bosque
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  2. Maria-Irene Adamogianni
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Correspondence to Stergios Pirintsos.

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Bosque, M., Adamogianni, MI., Bariotakis, M. et al. Fine-scale spatial patterns of the Tertiary relict Zelkova abelicea (Ulmaceae) indicate possible processes contributing to its persistence to climate changes. Reg Environ Change 14, 835–849 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-013-0544-1

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