Influence of Climate Change on Chestnut Trees: A Review

Abstract

The chestnut tree (Castanea spp.) is an important resource worldwide. It is cultivated due to the high value of its fruits and wood. The evolution between Castanea biodiversity and humans has resulted in the spread of chestnut genetic diversity. In 2019, the chestnut tree area worldwide was approximately 596 × 103 ha for fruit production (Southern Europe, Southwestern United States of America, and Asia). In Europe 311 × 103 t were produced. Five genetic poles can be identified: three in Greece, the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, and the rest of the Mediterranean. Over the years, there have been some productivity changes, in part associated with climate change. Climate is considered one of the main drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem change. In the future, new challenges associated with climate change are expected, which could threaten this crop. It is essential to identify the impacts of climate change on chestnut trees, improving the current understanding of climate-tree interconnections. To deal with these projected changes adaptation strategies must be planned. This manuscript demonstrates the impacts of climate change on chestnut cultivation, reviewing the most recent studies on the subject. Furthermore, an analysis of possible adaptation strategies against the potentially negative impacts was studied.

Defensive patterns of chestnut genotypes (Castanea spp.) against the gall wasp, Dryocosmus kuriphilus

“…Castanea species (Fagaceae) are important forest trees in Europe, Asia, and North America. Global chestnut production has increased continuously over the last 40 years (Freitas et al, 2021). European chestnut, Castanea sativa Miller, grows mainly in southern and western Europe and there is a long tradition of cultivation for fruit and wood (Conedera et al, 2004).…”

“…Chestnuts cover an area of more than 100,000 ha in northwestern Spain, of which about 45,000 ha are in Galicia (MARM, 2011), where this study was conducted. Spain is considered the second (Fernandes et al, 2022) or third (Freitas et al, 2021) largest producer of chestnuts in the world. The European chestnut has no native fauna of gall makers, but other members of Fagaceae (especially Quercus spp.)…”

An In Vitro Protocol for Propagating Castanea sativa Italian Cultivars

“…Although in vitro culture protocols have already been developed for the genus Castanea [ 1 , 4 , 5 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ], large-scale propagation of C. sativa is currently not yet possible since it is a genotype-dependent technique and requires specific protocols for each species and cultivar, making it impossible to adopt a universal protocol. For this reason, since in vitro culture protocols for Italian varieties are not available, this research was focused on developing a protocol to micropropagate C. sativa cv.…”

The Physiological and Biochemical Responses of European Chestnut (Castanea sativa L.) to Blight Fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica (Murill) Barr)

“…The average temperature of 10-11.5 • C per year and the annual rainfall of 600-1600 mm is optimal for sweet chestnuts. However, due to climate change, the amount and distribution of precipitation are uncertain in most chestnut-growing areas, including Hungary, and the average annual temperature is also increasing [9]. According to the statistics of the Hungarian National Meteorological Service, the average temperature was 1.1 • C higher in 2020 than the average measured in the period 1981-2010 [10].…”