Different Ecological Niches of Poisonous Aristolochia clematitis in Central and Marginal Distribution Ranges-Another Contribution to a Better Understanding of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy.

ABSTRACT: Aristolochia clematitis L. is a perennial herbaceous plant distributed throughout Europe, Asia Minor and Caucasus. It has been used as a medicinal plant since antiquity but not in recent times because it contains poisonous aristolochic acid, causing progressive kidney failure. The aim of this work was to study Aristolochia clematitis ecology on the basis of vegetation plots from the European Vegetation Archive, and to investigate the differentiation of its ecological niche using a co-occurrence-based measure of ecological specialization (ESI). The ecological niche was studied on three spatial scales: on the entire distribution area, its differentiation across 200 × 200 km grid cells and the differences between three central and three marginal regions. Our results suggest that

SUBMITTER: Brzic I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10489678 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature