ORIGINAL ARTICLE Ongoing domestication and diversification in grafted olive–oleaster agroecosystems in Northern Morocco Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas 1 • Abdelmajid Moukhli 2,3 • Hicham Haouane 3,4 • Bouchaib Khadari 5 Received: 18 June 2015 / Accepted: 19 March 2017 Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017 Abstract This paper analyzes sociohistorical and biologi- cal factors that shape olive–oleaster agroecosystems (hereafter OOAs), in northern Morocco and their continu- ing roles in olive domestication, diversification and food security. Forests are cleared and oleasters (wild olive trees) are preserved by farmers for their valuable oil and for use as rootstocks to graft olive. This practice is among those that have shaped olive domestication in the Mediterranean region. It contributes to the creation of forest-based olive agroecosystems and favors olive intraspecific diversity that is highly adapted to heterogeneous mountain environments. Productions contribute to food security, short trade circuits, land tenure and cultural identity. Ethnobiological studies show a continuity of classification, naming and uses between selected oleaster types and olive varieties sug- gesting an ongoing domestication process. This is supported by genetic analyses which show a higher con- centration of genotypes selected from seedlings that prop- agate through sexual propagation in OOAs as compared to areas where management of oleasters for oil and as root- stocks is absent. Photointerpretation of aerial images cor- roborated with field-based observations, show the impacts of exogenous projects since the French and Spanish Pro- tectorate periods to contemporary projects of the state policy ‘‘Plan Maroc Vert.’’ We discuss the importance of OOAs for the preservation of on-farm genetic resources, food security and as models for future agroecosystems within the context of climate change. Keywords Olea europaea L  Wild and domesticated olive  Grafting  On-farm practices  Genetic diversity  Environmental change Introduction Oleaster or wild olive (Olea europaea subsp europaea, var. sylvestris) is a bio-indicator strictly associated with thermophile Mediterranean plant communities (Blondel and Aronson 1995). Olive (Olea europaea subsp europaea var. europaea), its domesticated form, has been selected by humans for specific drupe traits (Zohary et al. 2012). Oleaster and olive are known to be fully inter-fertile (Zo- hary and Spiegel-Roy 1975) self-incompatible and require cross-pollination. Multi-centennial cultivated clones since the inception of olive cultivation during the Bronze Age, and use of oleasters favor the coexistence of wild olive (oleaster), admixed wild and cultivated forms (admixed oleaster) and cultivated olive escapees (feral olive) (Kaniewski et al. 2012). Outcrossing between oleasters, admixed oleasters and olive varieties propagate through Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10113-017-1143-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas yildiz.thomas@cefe.cnrs.fr 1 Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive UMR 5175 CNRS, Montpellier 1919, Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France 2 INRA, UR Ame ´lioration des Plantes, Marrakech, Morocco 3 Faculte ´ des Sciences et Techniques Gue ´liz, University Cadi Ayyad, 40000 Marrakech, Morocco 4 UMR 1334 Ame ´lioration Ge ´ne ´tique et Adaptation des Plantes (AGAP), Montpellier SupAgro, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France 5 INRA/Montpellier SupAgro/CBNMed (Conservatoire Botanique National Me ´diterrane ´en) UMR 1334 AGAP, Campus CIRAD, TA A 108/03, Avenue Agropolis, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France 123 Reg Environ Change DOI 10.1007/s10113-017-1143-3