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

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. M. Bosque M.-I. Adamogianni M. Bariotakis S. Pirintsos (&) Department of Biology, University of Crete, P.O.Box 2208, 71409 Heraklion, Greece e-mail: [email protected] M. Bosque e-mail: [email protected] M.-I. Adamogianni e-mail: [email protected] M. Bariotakis e-mail: [email protected] L. Fazan G. Kozlowski Department of Biology and Botanic Garden, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] G. Kozlowski e-mail: [email protected] L. Fazan M. Stoffel Climatic Change and Climate Impacts, Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, Route de Drize 7, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected] M. Stoffel Dendrolab.ch, Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1-3, 3012 Bern, Switzerland G. Garfi Institute of Plant Genetics, National Research Council (CNR), Corso Calatafimi 414, 90129 Palermo, Italy e-mail: [email protected] J. Gratzfeld Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), 199 Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3BW, UK e-mail: [email protected] G. Kozlowski Natural History Museum, Chemin du Musée 6, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland S. Pirintsos Botanical Garden, University of Crete, Gallos Campus, 74100 Rethymnon, Greece 1 Published in which should be cited to refer to this work. ht tp :// do c. re ro .c h