Fagus taurica
Crimean beech

Crimean beech (Fagus taurica) is a deciduous tree species native to the Crimean Peninsula. Its distribution spans a small area in eastern Europe and western Asia, including populations in Romania. This species thrives in temperate forests, favouring well-drained slopes and valleys with moderate moisture. It forms mixed stands with other tree species, such as oak and hornbeam. Crimean beech has distinctive, glossy leaves with serrated edges and produces edible triangular nuts. Its limited range and habitat preferences make it vulnerable to habitat degradation and climate change.

in situ genetic conservation unit
ex situ genetic conservation unit
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Acknowledgements

This distribution map has been developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (partly based on the EUFORGEN map) and released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)


Caudullo, G., Welk, E., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., 2017. Chorological maps for the main European woody species. Data in Brief 12, 662-666. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.05.007

The following experts have contributed to the development of the EUFORGEN distribution maps:

Fazia Krouchi (Algeria), Hasmik Ghalachyan (Armenia), Thomas Geburek (Austria), Berthold Heinze (Austria), Rudi Litschauer (Austria), Rudolf Litschauer (Austria), Michael Mengl (Austria), Ferdinand Müller (Austria), Franz Starlinger (Austria), Valida Ali-zade (Azerbaijan), Vahid Djalal Hajiyev (Azerbaijan), Karen Cox (Belgium), Bart De Cuyper (Belgium), Olivier Desteucq (Belgium), Patrick Mertens (Belgium), Jos Van Slycken (Belgium), An Vanden Broeck (Belgium), Kristine Vander Mijnsbrugge (Belgium), Dalibor Ballian (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Alexander H. Alexandrov (Bulgaria), Alexander Delkov (Bulgaria), Ivanova Denitsa Pandeva (Bulgaria), Peter Zhelev Stoyanov (Bulgaria), Joso Gracan (Croatia), Marilena Idzojtic (Croatia), Mladen Ivankovic (Croatia), Željka Ivanović (Croatia), Davorin Kajba (Croatia), Hrvoje Marjanovic (Croatia), Sanja Peric (Croatia), Andreas Christou (Cyprus), Xenophon Hadjikyriacou (Cyprus), Václav Buriánek (Czech Republic), Jan Chládek (Czech Republic), Josef Frýdl (Czech Republic), Petr Novotný (Czech Republic), Martin Slovacek (Czech Republic), Zdenek Špišek (Czech Republic), Karel Vancura (Czech Republic), Ulrik Bräuner (Denmark), Bjerne Ditlevsen (Denmark), Jon Kehlet Hansen (Denmark), Jan Svejgaard Jensen (Denmark), Kalev Jðgiste (Estonia), Tiit Maaten (Estonia), Raul Pihu (Estonia), Ülo Tamm (Estonia), Arvo Tullus (Estonia), Aivo Vares (Estonia), Teijo Nikkanen (Finland), Sanna Paanukoski (Finland), Mari Rusanen (Finland), Pekka Vakkari (Finland), Leena Yrjänä (Finland), Daniel Cambon (France), Eric Collin (France), Alexis Ducousso (France), Bruno Fady (France), François Lefèvre (France), Brigitte Musch (France), Sylvie Oddou-Muratorio (France), Luc E. Pâques (France), Julien Saudubray (France), Marc Villar (France), Vlatko Andonovski (FYR Macedonia), Dragi Pop-Stojanov (FYR Macedonia), Merab Machavariani (Georgia), Irina Tvauri (Georgia), Alexander Urushadze (Georgia), Bernd Degen (Germany), Jochen Kleinschmit (Germany), Armin König (Germany), Armin König (Germany), Volker Schneck (Germany), Richard Stephan (Germany), H. H. Kausch-Blecken Von Schmeling (Germany), Georg von Wühlisch (Germany), Iris Wagner (Germany), Heino Wolf (Germany), Paraskevi Alizoti (Greece), Filippos Aravanopoulos (Greece), Andreas Drouzas (Greece), Despina Paitaridou (Greece), Aristotelis C. Papageorgiou (Greece), Kostas Thanos (Greece), Sándor Bordács (Hungary), Csaba Mátyás (Hungary), László Nagy (Hungary), Thröstur Eysteinsson (Iceland), Adalsteinn Sigurgeirsson (Iceland), Halldór Sverrisson (Iceland), John Fennessy (Ireland), Ellen O'Connor (Ireland), Fulvio Ducci (Italy), Silvia Fineschi (Italy), Bartolomeo Schirone (Italy), Marco Cosimo Simeone (Italy), Giovanni Giuseppe Vendramin (Italy), Lorenzo Vietto (Italy), Janis Birgelis (Latvia), Virgilijus Baliuckas (Lithuania), Kestutis Cesnavicius (Lithuania), Darius Danusevicius (Lithuania), Valmantas Kundrotas (Lithuania), Alfas Pliûra (Lithuania), Darius Raudonius (Lithuania), Robert du Fays (Luxembourg), Myriam Heuertz (Luxembourg), Claude Parini (Luxembourg), Fred Trossen (Luxembourg), Frank Wolter (Luxembourg), Joseph Buhagiar (Malta), Eman Calleja (Malta), Ion Palancean (Moldova), Dragos Postolache (Moldova), Gheorghe Postolache (Moldova), Hassan Sbay (Morocco), Tor Myking (Norway), Tore Skrøppa (Norway), Anna Gugala (Poland), Jan Kowalczyk (Poland), Czeslaw Koziol (Poland), Jan Matras (Poland), Zbigniew Sobierajski (Poland), Maria Helena Almeida (Portugal), Filipe Costa e Silva (Portugal), Luís Reis (Portugal), Maria Carolina Varela (Portugal), Ioan Blada (Romania), Alexandru-Lucian Curtu (Romania), Lucian Dinca (Romania), Georgeta Mihai (Romania), Mihai Olaru (Romania), Gheorghe Parnuta (Romania), Natalia Demidova (Russian Federation), Mikhail V. Pridnya (Russian Federation), Andrey Prokazin (Russian Federation), Srdjan Bojovic (Serbia) , Vasilije Isajev (Serbia), Saša Orlovic (Serbia), Rudolf Bruchánik (Slovakia), Roman Longauer (Slovakia), Ladislav Paule (Slovakia), Gregor Bozič (Slovenia), Robert Brus (Slovenia), Katarina Celič (Slovenia), Hojka Kraigher (Slovenia), Andrej Verlič (Slovenia), Marjana Westergren (Slovenia), Ricardo Alía (Spain), Josefa Fernández-López (Spain), Luis Gil Sanchez (Spain), Pablo Gonzalez Goicoechea (Spain), Santiago C. González-Martínez (Spain), Sonia Martin Albertos (Spain), Eduardo Notivol Paino (Spain), María Arantxa Prada (Spain), Alvaro Soto de Viana (Spain), Lennart Ackzell (Sweden), Jonas Bergquist (Sweden), Sanna Black-Samuelsson (Sweden), Jonas Cedergren (Sweden), Gösta Eriksson (Sweden), Markus Bolliger (Switzerland), Felix Gugerli (Switzerland), Rolf Holderegger (Switzerland), Peter Rotach (Switzerland), Marcus Ulber (Switzerland), Sven M.G. de Vries (The Netherlands), Khouja Mohamed Larbi (Tunisia), Murat Alan (Turkey), Gaye Kandemir (Turkey), Gursel Karagöz (Turkey), Zeki Kaya (Turkey), Hasan Özer (Turkey), Hacer Semerci (Turkey), Ferit Toplu (Turkey), Mykola M. Vedmid (Ukraine), Roman T. Volosyanchuk (Ukraine), Stuart A'Hara (United Kingdom), Joan Cottrell (United Kingdom), Colin Edwards (United Kingdom), Michael Frankis (United Kingdom), Jason Hubert (United Kingdom), Karen Russell (United Kingdom), C.J.A. Samuel (United Kingdom).
 

Status of Fagus taurica conservation in Europe

Crimean beech may represent an ancestral form of beech that regional populations have evolved from (Gömöry, Paule, and Vysny, 2007). Extremely high instances of allelic richness in Crimean beech populations may support this theory, but genetic study cannot prove or disprove it. Crimean beech shares few chloroplast haplotypes with European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in the southwestern Balkans and none with other European populations (Gömöry, Paule, and Vysny, 2007). The genetic diversity within Crimean beech populations has been found to be lower than its putative parental species European Beech and oriental Beech (Fagus orientalis)., probably due to its limited distribution and isolation on the Crimean Peninsula and nearby regions. This also likely limited its gene flow with other beech populations, potentially leading to genetic differentiation and unique genetic characteristics within populations of Crimean beech.

 

The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.

Interspecific taxa dynamics

Crimean beech was first described in Crimea as an intermediate form of European and oriental beech. The distributions of the two species overlap in the Crimean Peninsula and Crimean beech shares characteristics of both species, having only minor differences in leaf and flower form, but the species is more morphologically like European beech (Gömöry et al., 1999; Volosyanchuk, Los, and Yatsyk, 2001). Crimean beech was described as a distinct species in 1936. However, this is not completely accepted as some researchers assert it is not distinct enough and the identity of transitional forms between the two species is uncertain. Later literature often considers Crimean beech as a transitional form, either being a hybrid or possessing phylogenetic links to European and oriental beech (Gömöry, Paule, and Vysny, 2007). Genetic studies have confirmed Crimean beech originated as a hybrid between European beech and oriental beech from the Caucasus population (Gömöry, Paule, and Mačejovský., 2018). This hybridization took place between 300 000 to 130 000 years ago during the end of a glacial period as beech populations were expanding from glacial refugia (Gömöry, Paule, and Mačejovský, 2018).

Balkan beech (Fagus moesiaca) and Crimean beech were originally considered distinct; however, the taxonomical status and relation of Balkan beech to Crimean beech is unclear. As a result, populations of Crimean beech in Ukraine may have been misidentified as Balkan beech (Gömöry et al., 1999). Some studies consider Crimean beech genetically identical to Balkan beech, but genetic analysis has confirmed divergence between Balkan and Crimean beech populations (Gömöry, Paule, and Vysny, 2007).

 

The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.

No information available.

 

The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.

Genetic Characterisation of Fagus taurica and its GCUs

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Further reading

Paule, L. and Gömöry, D., 1997. Genetic diversity of beech populations in Europe. In J. Turok, A. Kremer, and S. de Vries, S., compilers. First EUFORGEN Meeting on Social Broadleaves, pp. 152–166. Rome, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

References

Gömöry, D., Paule, L., and Mačejovský, V., 2018. Phylogeny of beech in western Eurasia as inferred by approximate bayesian computation. Acta Societatis Botanicorum Poloniae, 87(2): 3582. https://doi.org/10.5586/asbp.3582

Gömöry, D., Paule, L., and Vysny, J., 2007. Patterns of allozyme variation in western Eurasian Fagus. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 154: 165–174.

Gömöry, D., Paule, L., Brus, Z., and Tomovic, G., 1999. Genetic differentiation and phylogeny of beech on the Balkan Peninsula. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 12: 746–754.

Volosyanchuk, R., Los, S. and Yatsyk, R., 2001. Conservation of genetic resources of broadleaved forest tree species in Ukraine. Dynamics and conservation of genetic diversity in forest ecosystems. Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.