GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION AND DIVERSITY OF FRUIT TREE SPECIES IN ALBANIA

The geographic distribution and diversity of fruit tree species using collection data, and a database of 592 geo-referenced observations, including all 32 species, from 12 districts of Albania was carried out. A grid of 25 x 25 km cells was used to asses’ distribution, diversity and richness of species. To include all species at least once, 34 grid cells were selected. Geographic spatial analysis shows that high species richness occurs in Elbasan, Tirana, Diber and Korça districts, where it was observed the highest number of species, respectively 16, 13, 13, 10 species. For all grid cells selected the summarized results on diversity were: Richness (S) 21, Margalef index 3,133; Menhinick 0,863; Shannon 2.621; Simpson 0.902 and Brillouin 2.546.Combination of species occurrence data with climatic data delimitates the potential distribution of each species and allows the modeling of potential richness at the district level. Precipitation of driest month and precipitation seasonality seems to be the most limiting factors for the north-eastern part of Albania, and maximum temperature of warmest month for central Albania, and precipitation of driest month for south-western part of Albania. Based on these modeled richness maps, Elbasan and Berat appears to be the districts with the highest potential fruit trees diversity and with the most potential priority areas for in situ conservation of fruit tree species. Analysis shows 8 new alleles were contributed by additional cells as Berat (3 alleles), Dibra (3 alleles) and Fieri (2 alleles).