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

• Published in: Regional environmental change Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 835 - 849
• Main Authors: Bosque, Marta, Adamogianni, Maria-Irene, Bariotakis, Michael, Fazan, Laurence, Stoffel, Markus, Garfi, Giuseppe, Gratzfeld, Joachim, Kozlowski, Gregor, Pirintsos, Stergios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01-04-2014; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: climate; Climate Change; Climate Change/Climate Change Impacts; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Geography; Metapopulations; Nature Conservation; Oceanography; Original Article; Plant ecology; population ecology; Regional/Spatial Science; spatial distribution; Ulmaceae; Zelkova; Facilitation; Tertiary relict trees; Fine-scale spatial pattern; Plasticity; Disturbance
• ISSN: 1436-3798; 1436-378X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10113-013-0544-1

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.