Back to Search Start Over

Potential Distribution and Suitable Habitat for Chestnut (Castanea sativa)

Authors :
Vasil Metreveli
Holger Kreft
Ilia Akobia
Zurab Janiashvili
Zaza Nonashvili
Lasha Dzadzamia
Zurab Javakhishvili
Alexander Gavashelishvili
Source :
Forests, Vol 14, Iss 10, p 2076 (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2023.

Abstract

Chestnut, Castanea sativa Miller (Fagales: Fagaceae), is an ecologically and economically important tree species of the forest ecosystem in Southern Europe, North-Western Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, and the Caucasus. The distributional range of chestnut in Europe has been highly modified by humans since ancient times. Biotic and abiotic factors have dramatically changed its distribution. Historic anthropogenic range expansion makes it difficult to identify habitat requirements for natural stands of chestnut. In the Caucasus, natural stands of chestnut survived in glacial forest refugia and landscapes that have been difficult for humans to colonize. To identify the species reliable habitat requirements, we estimated the relationship between climatic variables and 620 occurrence locations of natural chestnut stands from the Caucasus and validated the model using GBIF data from outside the Caucasus. We found that our best model is reasonably accurate and the data from the Caucasus characterize chestnut stands throughout the species range well.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
19994907
Volume :
14
Issue :
10
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Forests
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.9d88a1920868416699fc4b6d7ca1e14d
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/f14102076