Adil GÜNER, Vehbi ESER - optima

Posters
CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY IN HOT-SPOTS OF GLACIAL
RELICT PLANTS IN BULGARIA
Svetlana Bancheva, Vladimir Vladimirov, Rossen Gorgorov, Dimitar Peev, Ana Ganeva, Iva
Apostolova, Tenyo Meshinev, Cvetomir Denchev & Petka Yurukova
Institute of Botany, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. Georgi Bonchev St., bl. 23, 1113 Sofia;
dpeev@bio.bas.bg, animoss@bio.bas.bg, sbancheva@yahoo.com
In 2009 a two-year project, entitled “Conservation of biodiversity in hot-spots of glacial relict
plants in Bulgaria” was funded by the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism 2004-2009. The project
is coordinated by the Institute of Botany, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and involves 5 partner research organizations
from Bulgaria and Norway. It is focused on the elaboration of sound information basis for
protection and sustainable management of mountain glacial relict plants in Bulgaria.
A significant number of mountain plants, many of which listed in the national Biodiversity Act
as protected, is remnant of glaciation periods and they possess high sensitivity towards climate
warming and human impact by reasons of geographic isolation and lack of potential for further
migration to sites with more favorable conditions. Most of their habitats are listed in Annex I
of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC). The foreseen activities will be carried out at selected
sites in the highest mountains of Bulgaria.
The following main questions will be addressed: (1) what is the impact of the different threats
on glacial relict plants in Bulgaria and (2) how geographical isolation and fragmentation influences
the plant survival potential and habitats stability.
The poster presents details about the project activities, organization and expected results. The
approach is based on representative sites and indicator species. The main activities are related
to recovering the historical dynamics of vegetation in relation to climate change and the evaluation
of the present state and structure of populations and habitats of selected glacial relict
plants under the influence of current climatic changes and other threat factors. Measures for effective
conservation of these species will be proposed. Dissemination of the results to the target
groups is envisaged.
Keywords biodiversity, Bulgaria, climate change, glacial relict plants, plant conservation.
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