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Genetic diversity patterns of Eastern Mediterranean conifers
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Edité par CCSD ; Biology and ecology of woody plants at: Poznan – Poland -
International audience. The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is rich in conifers taxa belonging to Abies, Cedrus, Juniperus and Cupressus genera, which are found in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, and along the eastern Lebanese mountain range that stretches down to Syria. Climate and geological events played a key role in determining the spread and persistence of these conifers in their natural habitats. Climatic oscillations occurred during contemporary and geological timescales leading to local extinction or dispersion of these conifers to more suitable areas. The Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) is expected to be more strongly affected by ongoing global climate change than most other regions of the planet. Given the magnitude of forecasted trends, there are grave concerns in the region for the future of these conifers and their adaptation. Moreover, humans have had a local impact on the EMR ecosystem that made it fragmented and degraded as some of these conifer species have been intensively exploited, the other frequently planted. These natural and human made events left behind important genetic information to be explored about the evolution and spread of these conifers. Modern genetics tools are being used to unravel the genetic diversity of some conifer species showing bottleneck effects, allelic richness and isolation events and therefore demonstrating conifer ability to adapt to climate change. The biogeography and diversification history of four of these EMR conifers, Abies cilicica, Cedrus libani, Juniperus drupacea and J. excelsa as well as distribution of their isolated populations will be discussed in this paper with special insights given to leading and rear edge populations.
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