Page 3 - Thymus_BSE

248 L. Llorens et al. / Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 56 (2014) 246e254

Fig. 1. Map of the western Mediterranean basin showing the geographical distribution of the Thymus richardii populations analyzed. Numbers 1e5: population
codes. Symbols indicate bioclimates (▫: temperate humid; ▵ supra-Mediterranean humid; þ: thermo-Mediterranean humid/subhumid; -: thermo-
Mediterranean dry).
each population three samples by plant from ten individuals were collected randomly. The sampled plants were >10 m apart,
to avoid sampling from the same parent. Branches with leaves were collected from each individual and stored at 40 C until

extracted for volatile fraction analysis. The woody parts were separated from the leaves, young branches and inflorescences.
2.2. Climate data and bioclimatic index

Climate datawere obtained from the meteorological station nearest to each study area. The data covered a period of 30 years
for the Safor (Valencia) and Marettimo (Favignana) areas, and 20 years for the Konjic, Borci (Bosnia), Ibiza and Majorca areas.
To investigate relationships between climatic factors and the composition of essential oils we used several bioclimatic
indices (Rivas-Martínez et al. 2011) and the Giacobbe index (IG) (Giacobbe, 1938, 1959). The bioclimatic parameters inves-
tigated are mostly related to summer, as this is the critical period for Mediterranean flora, and included: ETP, potential
evapotranspiration; Ic, continentality index; It, thermicity index; Io, ombrothermic index; IG, summer drought index; PPv,
summer precipitation for the three consecutive warmest months in the year; TPv, the sum of the monthly average tem-
peratures for the three consecutive warmest months (Table 2).

2.3. Essential oil extraction and analysis
Simultaneous distillationeextraction (SDE) was performed for 2 h using a Likens and Nickerson device with dichloro-
methane as the organic solvent. The extracts were dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated to a 2 mL volume
Table 1
Geobotanical data for the studied populations of T. richardii. UTM: UTM coordinates; (*): TMed ¼ ThermoMediterranean; MMed ¼ MesoMediterranean;
SMed ¼ SupraMediterranean; Temp ¼ temperate.
Taxa (*) Locality (UTM) Altitude (m) Bioclimate (*) Community Habitat
1- Thymus richardii Ibiza 31S 35E/43N 160e280 TMed dry Brassico balearicae-Helichrysion Subrupiculous. Limestone
subsp. ebusitanus rupestris (Asplenietea trichomanis) rock crevices with
chasmophytic vegetation.
Sea breeze affected
2- Thymus richardii Sicily/Marettimo 160e450 TMed dry Dianthion rupicolae (Asplenietea Rupiculous. Limestone
subsp. nitidus 33S 24E/42N trichomanis) rock crevices with
chasmophytic vegetation.
Sea breeze affected
3- Thymus richardii Bosnia 1/Konjic-Spiljani 350 Temp/SMed Peucedanion neumayeri Slopes
subsp. richardii 34T 25E/48N humid (Thero-Brachypodietea)
4- Thymus richardii Bosnia 2/Borci-Bjelasnica 800 Temp humid Peucedanion neumayeri Slopes. Dolomitophyte
subsp. richardii 34T 25E/48N (Thero-Brachypodietea)
5- Thymus richardii Majorca/Puig Major 31S 1100e1300 SMed/MMed Brassico balearicae-Helichrysion Rupiculous. Limestone
subsp. richardii 48E/44N humid rupestris (Asplenietea trichomanis) rock crevices with
chasmophytic vegetation
6- Thymus richardii Valencia/La Safor 30S 550e650 MMed/TMed Rosmarinion officinalis Slopes. Dolomitophyte
subsp. vigoi 73E/43N humid (Rosmarinetea officinalis)
(*) Vouchers specimen collected in the studied populations has been included in the Herbarium of Politechnic University of Valencia (VALA, n 7245e7251).

Syntaxonomical nomenclature according to Ritter-Studni cka, 1967 and Rivas-Martínez et al., 2001.