A Multidisciplinary Study of Wild Grapevines in the River Crati Natural Reserve, South Italy (Calabria): Implications in Conservation Biology and Palaeoecological Reconstructions

Nowadays, wild grapevine populations are quite limited and sporadic mainly due to habitat destruction, land-use change, and the spread of pathogens that have reduced their distribution range. Palaeoecological, archaeobotanical, and genetic studies indicate that modern cultivars of Vitis vinifera are the results of the domestication of the dioecious, and sometimes hermaphrodite, wild species standing in riparian zones and wet environments. Wild grapevine populations have declined as a consequence of various forms of anthropogenic disturbance and were assigned by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species to the Least Concern category. The River Crati Natural Reserve (Riserva Naturale Foce del Crati), located in southern Italy, hosts a population of Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris in a rewilding wet forest close to the Ionian Sea. These protected areas are of high scientific, biogeographic, and conservation interest in terms of Mediterranean biodiversity. Dendroecological and pollen morpho-biometric analyses of the wild grapevine are presented in this study. Palaeoecological perspectives for a landscape management strategy aimed at conserving and restoring the relic grapevine population are discussed.

Automated summary

Modern cultivated varieties of European grapes have been domesticated from wild grapevines growing in riparian zones and wet environments. The decline in wild grapevine populations is mainly due to habitat destruction, land-use change, and the spread of pathogens. The River Crati Natural Reserve in southern Italy plays a crucial role in conserving and restoring the relic population of wild grapevines, contributing to Mediterranean biodiversity conservation.