TITLE:
Agro-Biodiversity Spatial Assessment and Genetic Reserve Delineation for the Pollino National Park (Italy)
AUTHORS:
Giovanni Figliuolo, Domenico Cerbino
KEYWORDS:
Genetic Reserve, Genetic Resource, Realized Niche, Richness, Spatial Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.5 No.7,
May
29,
2014
ABSTRACT: Ancient fruit trees, grape vines, traditional crop and garden cultivars
have been inventoried in Pollino National Park by adopting a spatial sampling
grid which covers 23 different municipalities (~1500 Km2) and 190 surveyed sites.
Each site is a circle with a visible radius of 200 - 250 m. The spatial
analysis of the diversity of plant genetic resources has been conducted with
pre-fixed landscape units (size: 4 Km × 4 Km). Overall, 49 different woody long
cycle (455 ancient cultivars) and 53 short cycle species (102 ancient
cultivars) have been scored. Long cycle species exhibit higher cultivar
richness than short cycle species. The analysis has recognized that
pre-Columbian indigenous cultivars had not been displaced by the American
species introduced after the 16th century. In addition, it is
confirmed that small-scale poly-production, under conditions of spatial niche
variation, is associated to high species and cultivar richness. The mapped
realized niche, for both pre- and post-Columbian genetic resources, includes
the actual genetic reserve suitable for in
situ conservation of plant agro-biodiversity. Agro-biodiversity models,
drivers of genetic erosion, and realistic responses to genetic erosion are
outlined.