[COLLOQUE] GENTREE Final Conference 27-31 January 2020 séance 20

GENTREE Final Conference : Charalambos NEOPHYTOU - Forest Research Institute Freiburg · Germany

GENTREE Final Conference 'Genetics to the rescue - managing forests sustainably in a changing environment'

27-31 January 2020, Avignon, France

http://www.gentree-h2020.eu/

Charalambos NEOPHYTOU - Forest Research Institute Freiburg · Germany : Can adapted oaks on relict sites help sustainable forest management in a changing climate ?

Relict oak (Quercus spp.) stands on extremely dry sites, particularlyon steep scree slopes have not been the main focus of forest geneticsand tree breeding programs in Central Europe.

This is due to theirpoor growth characteristics.

However, such sites presumably harbour along habitat continuity.

Due to the reduced competitive ability ofcommon beech (Fagus sylvatica) and other shade tolerant species, oaksmight have formed the climax community for a long time period,possibly since to the beginning of the Holocene.

Given low siteproductivity and poor accessibility, it is unlikely that trees havebeen planted there by humans. Therefore, oaks on such sites areexpected to be autochthonous and they have potentially adapted toregular water shortage over many generations. Here, we follow amultidisciplinary approach to:

1. record the site conditions of oakstands on putatively relict sites in southern Germany and Alsace andconfirm their relict status by demonstrating indicator species offlora and fauna,
2. characterize the refugial origin of the oak inthese stands via nuclear and chloroplast DNA markers and compare theresults with the existing data on managed oak forests,
3. investigate adaptive genetic variation using a targeted sequencecapture method and examine associations between genotypes andenvironmental and physiological stress variables,
4. study mature trees and their progenies in terms of their stress physiology to gain insights into drought resistance, and
5. provide a basis for the establishment of a progeny trial in order to test genetically-determined growth characteristics in the stands.

In thelong run, this is expected to answer the question of to what extentthe use of reproductive material from these stands can helpestablishing climate-resilient oak forests.