Proceedings Book International Conference of Ecosystems (ICE2016) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 488 PAPER 162 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES DIVERSITY IN TIRANA REGION Belul Gixhari 1 , Hekuran Vrapi 2 1 Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania; 2 Plant Protection Department, Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania; E-mail: gixharibelul@ubt.edu.al; ; hvrapi@gmail.com; ABSTRACT Distribution and genetic diversity of 198 geo-observations, including 34 plant species, from the four areas of Tirana region was carried out, using grids of 5 x 5 km, to assess the species richness, the area of occupancy and diversity indices. Geospatial analysis and combination of diversity indices as species richness, Simpson (1–D), Shannon, Evenness, Brillouin, Equitability and Fisher-alpha indices found the areas of Tirana North and South were richer and more even than other observed areas. Observed diversity in Tirana East areas was comparable with diversity observed in Tirana South, Tirana West and Tirana North areas, but the diversity among these three latest areas was non-comparable. Cluster analysis based on Euclidian distance generated a dendrogram of three clusters. Higher similarity positively correlated was found between diversity observed in Tirana North, South and East areas (similarity index ranged from 41.74 to 43.48 and correlation coefficient r ranged from 0.22 to 0.28). Tirana North and Tirana South were the areas with more even (0.806) and equitable (0.924) number of individuals distributed among species. There was a negative relation among the number of species observed in each areas and elevation of present points from the sea level. Results of this study suggest the presence of possible stable ecosystems available in these areas, and diversity of these areas can be used for the assessment of the current status of conservation of plant genetic resources and for the prioritization of potential ecological areas suitable for in situ conservation. Keywords: Diversity indices, geographic analysis, species distribution. INTRODUCTION Albania is very rich in biological and landscape diversity, which is attributable to the country geographic position as well as geological, hydrological, climatic, and soil and relief factors. Albanian Flora identified about 3 250 species of plants in the country, from 11 000 types of plants that are in Europe (or 29.5%) ( Flore de L’Albanie 1980; Demiri 1983; Paparisto et al. 1988; Hammer et al. 1996; GBIF database (http://data.gbif.org), but only 140 species (or near 4%) of them is included in Albanian genebank (Gixhari et al. 2013) and in EURISCO databases (http://eurisco.ipk- gatersleben.de). Plant genetic resources (PGR) play a key role in contributing to the sustainable development of agriculture, helping to increase agricultural food productions. Cultivated crops, medicinal and aromatic plants, fruit tree species, olive trees, and a great number of wild relatives are economically, socially, and culturally important plants for Albania. They are grown over a wide range of ecological habitats in the country, in cultivated and wild habitats, in forest habitats, on the hills and mountains habitats. PGR provides access to the greatest possible amount of genetic variability in a particular species and helps reveal the ecological and geographic distribution of plant species (Bennett, 1970). Genetic diversity allows crops to evolve and adapt and it is a major resource for plant breeders to use and meet the challenges in maintaining food security and environmental stability. Wild plant species provide an invaluable source of genes that can be used for the improvement of cultivated species. Today, the conservation of genetic resources is regarded as an important need for human society. The genebanks offer the main means to explore, collect, store, and protect genetic materials, providing the raw material for the improvement of crops. The information on plants biodiversity in Albania is generally lacking especially in terms of