La distribution fragmentée deCyclamen balearicumWillk. en France: analyse historique et conséquence des activités humaines

Abstract

Summary The fragmentation of natural populations into small isolated remnants as a result of human induced landscape change is of fundamental importance to species conservation. In this paper, we describe the current distribution in France of Cyclamen balearicum Willk., a species endemic to the Balearic Islands and southern France, and we assemble historical knowledge of the distribution of this species in France. The species now occurs in at least 30 populations, of 0.1 to at least 10 hectares in four departments (Pyrenees-Orientales, Aude, Herault, Gard). We suggest that the species range in France, already fragmented by glaciations, has been restricted due to human impact, with its distribution being most reduced sometime during the 19th century. Since then natural reforestation has occasionally allowed the species to spread slightly. Nevertheless, the low population size in certain sites, ecological isolation, high levels of predation and varied human impact may contribute to a stagnation or an extinc...