Ketevan Batsatsashvili

Reasons and Processes Leading to the Erosion of Crop Genetic Diversity in Mountainous Regions of Georgia

Abstract Agriculture has a long history in Georgia; it has led to a great variety of ancient crops. However, this diversity is under threat for many reasons. First, introduced crops have caused a loss of traditional cultivars, because the introduced crops are preferred due to their higher yield. Moreover, agricultural machines such as forage and grain combine harvesters imported to Georgia are constructed for widely distributed, imported crops and cannot be used to harvest local cultivars. Until recently, genetic erosion of ancient crop varieties was not a problem in the mountain areas of Georgia, which until the 1990s constituted a depository of local crop varieties of wheat, barley, rye, oat, common millet, traditional legumes, vegetables, herbs, and spice plants with specific varieties adapted to mountain conditions. These mountain areas worked as a depository because local mountain communities preserved their traditional ways of life and socioeconomic structures. Their traditional agricultural equipment, used on a large scale until the 1990s, still allows them to maintain areas under cultivation (with grain or other crops) on steep slopes and at high elevations where modern tractors cannot be used. Moreover, some old landraces of wheat and barley are still being used to prepare bread and beer for religious rituals. Currently, many endemic and native representatives of crop plants are in danger of extinction. International nature conservation institutions and Georgian scientific and nongovernmental organizations have developed plans to preserve the genetic resources of local cultivars.

Your Poison in My Pie—the Use of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Leaves in Sakartvelo, Republic of Georgia, Caucasus, and Gollobordo, Eastern Albania

William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden, P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, USA Herbario Nacional de Bolivia, Instituto de Ecología-UMSA, Campus Universitario, Cota Cota Calle 27, La Paz, Bolivia Institute of Botany and Bakuriani Alpine Botanical Garden, Ilia State University, Botanikuri St. 1, 0105, Tbilisi, Georgia 4-D Research Institute, Ilia State University, 5, Cholokasvili Ave, 0162, Tbilisi, Georgia University of Gastronomic Sciences, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 9, I-12060, Pollenzo, CN, Italy *Corresponding author; e-mail: rainer.bussmann@mobot.org

Plant Diversity in the Central Great Caucasus: A Quantitative Assessment

This book presents the first assessment of the high-elevation flora of the Central Caucasus with a community ecology emphasis. Following a geostatistical-climatological description of the region (in comparison to the European Alps), it describes the montane, alpine and nival plant assemblages on the basis of an ecological approach that combines moisture, soils and local habitat peculiarities. Highlights include the famous giant herb communities in treeless parts of the upper montane belt, the various facets of alpine turf, and the unique assemblages and settings in the nival region. Further chapters address potential niche conservation between the Caucasus and the Alps, as well as a compilation of plant species habitat preferences (indicator values) that applies to a concept developed for the Alps. Richly illustrated and featuring extensive quantitative data on species abundance, the book offers a unique guide to the plant species diversity of this prominent mountain range, and a valuable resource for comparative ecology and biodiversity assessments of warm temperate mountain systems.

Lichens of the Arid Region of David Gareji, Georgia (South Caucasus)

Abstract: Kupradze, I., Inashvili, T., Batsatsashvili, K., Lachashvili, N. & Gabelashvili, S. 2018. Lichens of the arid region of David Gareji, Georgia (South Caucasus). – Herzogia 31: 268–275. The arid region of David Gareji, Georgia, is located on the Iori Upland in the southeastern part of the country, in the central part of the South Caucasus. The vegetation of the study area is dominated by steppe with patches of semi-desert communities, but hemixerophilous ‘shiblyak’ scrub occurs in relatively small areas. To date, the lichen flora of the David Gareji region has received little attention. The present study recorded 93 species in 38 genera and 17 families, including six species new for Georgia: Aspicilia grossheimii, Diplotomma nivale, Lecidella carpathica, Lobothallia praeradiosa, Melanelia disjuncta and Melanelixia huei.

New Indicator Values for Central Caucasus Flora

In this study we have aimed to extend the concept of indicator values of Ellenberg (1974) and Landolt (1977) for vascular plants of the Caucaus (Sakhokia and Khutsishvili 1975a, b, c), taking account those species which also occur in the Alps (more than 400 species). The resulting Nakhutsrishvili Indicator Values for the Caucasus (see Annex) were compared with those of Elias Landolt for the Alps (Landolt 1977). The results show a high overlap of both sets of indicator values, indicating both, a high overlap of the ecological niche of the species of the Alps and the Caucasus, and also an agreement of both experts for many species and indicator value classes (30–50% congruence). The results show that an extension of Landolt indicator values to the Caucasus is possible, and that the Nakhutsrishvili Indicator Value dataset can now be used for vegetation analysis of the Caucasus.

Quantitative Analysis of the Phytosociological Relevés from the Central Greater Caucasus

In the previous chapter, the Flora of the Great Caucasus was described and compared using syntaxonomic, morphological and ecological categories and we reported important or dominant species. Here we exemplify results of very detailed vegetation analysis for the best studied part of the central Caucasus using the Braun Blanquet type of releves of entire species assemblages. The releves were compiled for the Kazbegi region, and for ecosystems along several elevational gradients that is (1) the Mount Kasbek profile from 1700 to 3100 m with a single further releve at 3600 m a.s.l; (2) the Mount Kuro profile from the village of Kazbegi to the upper slopes of Mount Kuro from 1900 to 3050 m a.s.l.; and (3) the Kolteshi range profile from 1850 to 2450 m a.s.l.; and for the Racha region and for ecosystems along several elevational gradients that is the Mamisoni Pass to Chanchakhi glacier from 2800 to 3600 m a.s.l. These releves were made between the early 1960s and the early 2000s.