Edaphoclimatic Descriptors of Wild Tomato Species ( Sect. Lycopersicon) and Closely Related Species ( Sect. Juglandifolia and Sect. Lycopersicoides) in South America.

Wild species related to cultivated tomato are essential genetic resources in breeding programs focused on food security to face future challenges. The ecogeographic analysis allows identifying the species adaptive ranges and most relevant environmental variables explaining their patterns of actual distribution. The objective of this research was to identify the diversity, ecological descriptors, and statistical relationship of 35 edaphoclimatic variables (20 climatic, 1 geographic and 14 edaphic variables) from 4,649 accessions of 12 wild tomato species and 4 closely related species classified in sect Lycopersicon and clustered into four phylogenetic groups, namely "Lycopersicon group" (, , and ), "Arcanum group" (S, , and ), "Eriopersicon group" (, , , , and ), "Neolycopersicon group" (); and two phylogenetically related groups in sect.