Eco-physiological characteristics of Corylus colurna and Taxus baccata in Armenia under in situ and ex situ conditions

Abstract

Thanks to the special state policy in Armenia, people's interest in nature has increased. People try to get acquainted with the world of plants not only in nature, but also in botanical gardens. It is very important to include rare and beautiful species of local flora in botanical gardens․ This process sometimes requires acclimatization of the targeted species, for example in case of Corylus colurna L. and Taxus baccata L. Our study highlights for the first time the results of an eco-physiological study (water content, intensity of transpiration and photosynthetic productivity) of two rare woody plant species C. colurna and T. baccata, growing in the wild in Armenia. We investigated the patterns of physiological behavior of the plants under different climatic conditions. Being highly valuable ornamental and rare species, ex situ conservation tools are applied to them in the appropriate structures of the country, among them the mesophyll forest, lower forest and semidesert zones. Obviously, we can conclude that for all indicators our most arid conditions are in the semidesert zone, at the same time often the conditions of the mesophyll forest zone are more favorable than those of the natural localities. The results of this research also show that acclimatization can help these species to be successfully preserved even in places where they grow very poorly under natural conditions or even disappear. According to the results of the studies carried out, it can be concluded that the two studied species at present can be grown in the semidesert zone as well.