Influenza delle condizioni pedoclimatiche sulla selezione di caratteri funzionali nella struttura anatomica diOlea europaeaL.

The olive tree (Olea europaeaL.) spread from Near-East to western Mediterranean basin and cultivated varieties were multilocally selected. Morphological traits, which could have been adapted to the climate condition, could have been later influenced by human selection. Several morphological traits of wild-type and olive cultivar trees were analysed to understand which traits have been influenced by human selection. Those traits that showed significative differences have been correlated to climate data to understand how climate influenced wild olive morphology. Strong correlation has been observed among leaf traits and among ramification traits, but those were not strongly correlated to climate data. Principal component analysis shows that some components could explain a large percentage of variance. Multiple regressions show which climate data seem to be more effective in explaining wild olive morphology differences. Some climate data seem to explain differences in wild olive morphology, but wider studies on a bigger collection are needed to better understand the effect of climate on olive characters.