Different Ecological Niches of Poisonous <i>Aristolochia clematitis</i> in Central and Marginal Distribution Ranges—Another Contribution to a Better Understanding of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy
Ivan Brzić,
Magdalena Brener,
Andraž Čarni,
Renata Ćušterevska,
Borna Čulig,
Tetiana Dziuba,
Valentin Golub,
Irina Irimia,
Bojan Jelaković,
Ali Kavgacı,
Mirjana Krstivojević Ćuk,
Daniel Krstonošić,
Vladimir Stupar,
Zlatko Trobonjača,
Željko Škvorc
Affiliations
Ivan Brzić
Municipality of Bebrina, 35254 Bebrina, Croatia
Magdalena Brener
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 23, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Andraž Čarni
Institute of Biology, Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Novi Trg 2, SI 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Renata Ćušterevska
Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Borna Čulig
Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Josipa Huttlera 4, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Tetiana Dziuba
M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 01004 Kyiv, Ukraine
Valentin Golub
Institute of Ecology of the Volga Basin, Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 445003 Togliatti, Russia
Irina Irimia
Faculty of Biology, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, 20A Carol I Blvd., 700506 Iași, Romania
Bojan Jelaković
Department of Nephrology, Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Center Zagreb, School of Medicine University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ali Kavgacı
Burdur Food Agriculture and Livestock Vocational School, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University, 15030 Burdur, Turkey
Mirjana Krstivojević Ćuk
Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 2, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
Daniel Krstonošić
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 23, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Vladimir Stupar
Department of Forest Ecology, Faculty of Forestry, University of Banja Luka, S. Stepanovića 75A, 78000 Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zlatko Trobonjača
School of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Braće Branchetta 20/1, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia
Željko Škvorc
Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 23, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
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 Aristolochia clematitis has a very broad ecological niche occurring in a range of different habitats and climatic conditions, with a trend of a niche width decrease with the distance from the geographical center. The plant prefers more stable communities with less anthropogenic influence moving towards the margin of the distribution area. Specialization towards the marginal area is a result of evolutionary history, which refers to the recent anthropogenically induced spread from its original home range. A high incidence of Aristolochia clematitis in the vegetation of arable lands and market gardens as well as anthropogenic herbaceous vegetation in the distribution center corresponds to the geographical incidence of Balkan Endemic Nephropathy.
