LinkTree - Linking genetic variability with ecological responses to environmental changes: forest trees as model systems

RÉSUMÉ

Source :   d'après la présentation du projet sur le site du programme

LinkTree studies genetic variation of ecologically relevant genes and their effects in natural forests. LinkTree will elucidate differences in morphological and functional traits in trees growing under different environmental conditions in model European forest systems. Sites include widespread and contrasted groups of forest trees (Mediterranean pines, temperate oaks, fir and spruce) and major environmental drivers (forest fires, drought, low temperatures, etc). Permanent experimental plots will be installed in model forest systems in Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden, providing field stations for long-term ecological and genetic research in a variety of biomes widely represented in Europe. LinkTree will develop or adapt integrative models to simulate the evolutionary dynamics of tree populations across a few generations under dierent realistic climatic scenarios in order to investigate the dierent responses of species and functional types to future environmental changes.