Is the Mesopotamian region a main source of Western European segetal plants?

ABSTRACT

The Mesopotamian Region is often recognised as the origin of the Western European (W European) segetal plants that have been coevolving with winter cereals since the emergence of agriculture. This eastern origin assumption is based on the close association between cereal domestication and arable weed occurrence. However, it has never been properly tested and the debate of their biogeographical origin continues. Here, we conducted a comparative floristic analysis of the complete French segetal plant list to provide a global comprehension vision on their hypothetic Mesopotamian origin. We found a total of 58 of the 102 segetal French taxa that occur both in the fields and in primary natural habitats in the Upper Mesopotamian Region. In contrast, in France, only 39 species are facultative weeds under the Mediterranean bioclimate while they are obligatory weeds under Temperate bioclimate. A significant part of them is endemic to W Europe occurring in primary natural habitats, and thus contributing to enrich the local segetal assemblage. Contrary to the general belief of their eastern origin, these French segetal taxa are originated from various biogeographical regions (Eurasiatic, European, Eury-Mediterranean, Mediterranean, Mediterranean-Touranian and W-Asiatic) and not only from the Upper Mesopotamian Region. Hence, we propose a hypothetical scheme to illustrate the various segetal assemblages as the result of an accumulative local colonization/extinction process alongside the cereal migration routes. Therefore, primary natural source versus secondary field sink habitats have considerably contributed to the segetal assemblage and thus represent crucial new contributions to our knowledge of their various biogeographical origin.

KEYWORDS:

• Agroecology
• arable weed
• biogeographic origin
• cereal field
• Mediterranean
• natural habitat

Acknowledgments

This research study has been made possible thanks to PAUSE post-doctoral fund (National program for the urgent aid and reception of scientists in exile) from the Collège de France. We are deeply grateful to the College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok, for their supporting encouragements for the segetal field surveys in Upper Mesopotamian Region. We also thank Patricia Savanier for improving English in the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sami Youssef

Sami Youssef is a botanist and researcher-lecturer at Duhok University (Kurdistan region of Iraq) and associated researcher at AMAP, Montpellier, France. His current research focus mainlyon the agroecology and the segetal plants conservation issues, biodiversity conservation in the Zagros and the Mesopotamia. His second research topic focuses on the evolutionary ecology, the natural regeneration topic and the preservation of the ethnobotanical activities of the Zagrosian and Mesopotamian populations. Contribution: building the topic, project coordination, data collection and analysis, drafting the manuscript.

Jocelyne Cambecèdes

Jocelyne Cambecèdes is a botanist at the Conservatoire Botanique Nationaldes Pyrénées et de Midi-Pyrénées, France. Her current research focus mainly on the agroecology, environmental impact assessmentand the segetal plants conservation issues. She is the reference of the French segetal national list. Contribution: building the topic, preparation of the French segetal plant list (102 taxa), contribution to the manuscript.

Errol Vela

Errol Vela is a botanist and researcher-lecturer at the Montpellier University and member of the AMAP laboratory, France. His main current researches are devoted to studying the Mediterranean hotspot biodiversity, particularly in terms of evolutionary biogeography, IUCN red list assessments, and descriptive taxonomy and identification tools. Contribution: building the topic, synthesis of the biogeographical origin of segetal taxa, plant taxonomy and synonymy, contribution to the manuscript.