12:22 p.m.
Dear IUFRO Meliaceae Working party:
Below is IUFRO Spotlight #68. Other Spotlights can be found at:
http://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
Regards,
Sheila Ward
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: IUFRO Headquarters <office(a)iufro.org>
Date: Wed, Jul 10, 2019 at 8:10 AM
Subject: IUFRO Congress Spotlight 68 - Forest Trees and the Climate Change
Challenge: Survival May Mean Diving into the Gene Pool
To: Dear IUFRO Officeholder <mahoganyforthefuture(a)gmail.com>
[image: IUFRO Spotlight]
IUFRO Congress Spotlight 68 - Forest Trees and the Climate Change
Challenge: Survival May Mean Diving into the Gene Pool
*IUFRO Spotlight issues up to September 2019 will primarily focus on the
XXV IUFRO World Congress that will take place on 29 September-5 October
2019 in Curitiba, Brazil.*
*Individual Congress sessions will be highlighted in order to draw
attention to the broader Congress themes, the wide variety of topics that
will be addressed at the Congress and their importance on a regional and
global scale.*
*Visit the Congress website at http://iufro2019.com/
<http://iufro2019.com/> or https://www.iufro.org/events/congresses/2019/
<https://www.iufro.org/events/congresses/2019/>.*
Forest Trees and the Climate Change Challenge: Survival May Mean Diving
into the Gene Pool
PDF for download
<https://www.iufro.org/fileadmin/material/publications/spotlights/congress-spotlight68-diving-into-the-gene-pool.pdf>
[image: Altitudinally marginal population of Pinus mugo in Italy. Source:
http://map-fgr.entecra.it/?page_id=1377. Photo by Piero Belletti.]
Altitudinally marginal population of Pinus mugo in Italy. Source:
http://map-fgr.entecra.it/?page_id=1377. Photo by Piero Belletti.
Because of climate change, forest tree species have three options. They can
adapt, migrate, or extirpate.
"The outcome depends upon the tree species and population, its genetic
variation, its reproductive biology and flowering synchronization, its
migration potential and whether the environments in the areas it can
migrate will be hospitable enough to allow it to survive," said Dr.
Paraskevi Alizoti of the Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Tree Improvement
in the School of Forestry and Natural Environment at Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki, Greece.
"The adaptation attempt of a population or species to changing climate
conditions doesn't hamper its migration procedures. Both can go on at the
same time without one impeding the other, she said. "But the successful
outcome of both depends on those other factors I mentioned above."
Dr. Alizoti, who will present a session at the IUFRO World Congress in
Curitiba, Brazil, this fall entitled *Trees on the move: range shifts,
potential for genetic adaptation and assisted migration*, said: "Migration
– range shifting – is a universal phenomenon for species since climate
change has an impact across the globe, though some regions may be more
vulnerable, according to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
predictions."
Tree migration has been reported in the forests of the eastern United
States where pines are moving north, while oaks and maples are heading west
and north; in northeastern Spain, European beech has shifted to higher
altitudes; and in the Swedish Scandes, mountain birch, Norway spruce, Scots
pine, rowan and willows have advanced to colonize moderate snow-bed
communities.
Forest tree species have generally long life spans and grow in niches –
locations that fulfill their environmental requirements. And, within each
species and population, genetic variation is the cornerstone for its
survival in the long term, and also for its potential to adapt to
environmental fluctuations or new conditions.
"However", Dr. Alizoti explained, "climate change causes notable changes
in
the niches. This imposes severe pressure on the species and populations
growing there, challenging their existing genetic variation and even
survival – especially in the case of geographically marginal populations,
or even environmentally marginal populations growing within the core of a
species distribution".
"Genes that will enable tree species and populations to survive, grow and
reproduce under the climate change conditions need to exist in their gene
pools, so that those forest trees can potentially adapt to the changes they
are experiencing".
"A population or species with low levels of genetic variation is expected
to be less adaptable to new threats due to climate change, resulting in few
individuals surviving extreme environmental episodes (i.e. extreme drought,
temperature increases)," she said.
"If the number of surviving and reproductively mature trees is below the
minimum viable population number, further loss of genetic variation in the
next generations will occur. Then, inbreeding build-up and extinction are
expected to follow".
"Marginal/Peripheral populations have been usually neglected, but they may
differ genetically and harbour unique genes for specific adaptations," she
added.
At the session she will explore the "progress and promise of forest
genetics research for assessing genetic variations in marginal populations,
their gene pool changes over time and their extirpation possibility".
"Assessing these issues will allow us to reach the most suitable decisions
for the conservation, use and management of their genetic resources," she
said.
The session aims to raise awareness of the significance of marginal
populations and their potential genetic differentiation, as a result of
their growth in marginal niches and of their potential isolation from other
populations of the same species. The session will examine their unique gene
pools, and the risks they face due to climate change. The main goal for
their management, she said, is securing their existence and conserving
their genetic resources.
"The fast rate of climate change may exceed a species' ability to adapt to
the changing conditions and in some cases even to move, through seed
dispersal, to more suitable environments," Dr. Alizoti added.
With that in mind, she said that assisted migration - deliberately moving
trees to more suitable ranges - may play a significant role in the future,
especially if the rate of climate change is much faster than that of
natural migration of tree species. But before assisted migration starts,
the identification of species or populations at risk is necessary, as well
as an assessment of the feasibility of such an undertaking, she said.
Using the genetic material of marginal populations as well as trying to
enrich the gene pools of other populations with the unique genes for
specific adaptations that those marginal populations may harbor, could help
in facing climate change impacts. This could be facilitated via 'assisted
gene flow' and intraspecific hybridization.
"This is a subject that's of interest to researchers around the globe," she
said, noting that there will also be a subplenary and a technical session
on the topic.
*Dr. Alizoti is Deputy Coordinator of IUFRO Working Party 2.02.13 –
Breeding and genetic resources of Mediterranean conifers:
https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-2/20000/20200/20213/
<https://www.iufro.org/science/divisions/division-2/20000/20200/20213/>.*
*See you at the IUFRO 2019 World Congress*!
Visit *http://iufro2019.com/ <http://iufro2019.com/>* * Look out for
*#IUFRO2019
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------------------------------------------------
*IUFRO Spotlight* is an initiative of the International Union of Forest
Research Organizations. Its aim is to introduce, in a timely fashion,
significant findings in forest research from IUFRO member organizations
and/or involving IUFRO officeholders to a worldwide network of decision
makers, policy makers and researchers.
*The findings reported here are submitted by IUFRO Member Organizations.
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------------------------------------------------
*IUFRO Congress Spotlight #68 published in July 2019 by IUFRO Headquarters,
Vienna, Austria. Available for download at:
**https://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/
<https://www.iufro.org/media/iufro-spotlights/>*
*Contact the editor at office(at)iufro.org <wolfrum(a)iufro.org> or
visit https://www.iufro.org/ <https://www.iufro.org/?id=104>*
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