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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GenTree (Optimising the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe)

Teaser

Summary

What is the problem/issue addressed by GenTree?
For years, the European Union (EU) has been successfully promoting forest genetic resources (FGR) as a way to better protect forests and their biodiversity in Europe. At the same time, it has successfully promoted breeding as a way to increase the sustainability and the strength of the European forest economic sector. As of yet, those two success stories rarely crossed paths. As a result, both conservation and breeding have focused on a limited amount of species that are no longer diversified enough in an era of changing societal demands and increased environmental uncertainty.

Why is it important for society?
EU forests and other wooded land account for ca. 180 million hectares (42.4% of EU land area). The Europeans derive many ecosystem services from their forests such as raw materials for construction, food, energy and health, and amenities such as hunting and gathering, enjoying nature and other wellness activities. The economic weight of the EU wood-based forestry sector alone generated a gross benefit representing 8.2% of the total manufacturing in 2011. Also, wood-based industries employed 3.4 million persons across the EU in 2011, a significant 11.5% share of the manufacturing total. Recently, at the UN Paris Climate Conference in 2015, forest conservation and enhancements were recognized as essential for the mitigation of climate warming because of their capacity for storing atmospheric carbon (article 5 of the Agreement). Society has an obvious interest in sustainably managing forests now more than ever.
European forests are made of a relatively low number of economically valuable, genetically rich and mostly native tree species. These large and diverse genetic resources represent a central component for forest trees to adapt to climate change. The future of native European forests depends greatly on the management and sustainable use of their genetic resources.

What are the overall objectives of GenTree?
The goal of GenTree is to provide the European forestry sector with better knowledge, methods and tools for management and sustainable use of FGR in Europe. To reach its goal, GenTree will make scientific, technological and implementation breakthroughs in:
- The design of innovative strategies for conserving FGR in European forests.
- Broadening the range of FGR used in European breeding programmes.
- The integration of conservation and breeding strategies to provide a new framework for the development of adaptive forest management.
GenTree focuses on the 12 most economically, ecologically or socially important tree species in Europe, covering a wide range of actual and potential habitats, industrial uses and societal values. Many of them are currently underused and those used in Europe are seldom part of a breeding programme.

Work performed

GenTree organized its kick-off meeting in Avignon, France, March 2016, where the dissemination plan and website were released. Dissemination products include a booklet, a newsletter, a Tweeter feed (@GentreeProject), photos, blog pieces and a video on the importance of forest tree genetic diversity, all viewable at: http://www.gentree-h2020.eu/
The first annual meeting was held in Madrid, Spain in March 2017. The goal of the meeting was to review progress made, solve pending issues and organize the upcoming work of the second year of the project.
The sampling strategy for carrying out fieldwork was designed, fine-tuned and implemented within the few months following the kick-off meeting; in total, 4700+ trees will be sampled. Trees in populations were characterized for traits useful for adaptation and responses to global change and their leaves sampled for DNA extraction and ecophysiological trait measurements.
In parallel and around the time of the first annual meeting, GenTree partners started to select a set of genes to be sequenced and to identify their sequences in the different species of the project. This will both facilitate sequencing and make comparison across species easier as gene families and gene functions will have been targeted.
An important but rarely done assessment in forest trees is to look for signatures of selection at the early stage of life, that of germination. After an extensive assessment of seed yield across Europe, surveying all species of the project, Pinus sylvestris, Betula pendula and Pinus pinaster were chosen for the in situ germination experiment.
One of the key technological breakthrough expected of GenTree is transferring breeding methods used in ex-situ and well-controlled populations to wild populations where in-situ gene conservation is performed and new traits and genetic combinations can be found for new breeding requirements. These methods were inventoried and in situ populations used for validation were selected and are ready for assessment.
To evaluate and implement innovative, low-cost breeding strategies, which are promoting a larger use of FGR, GenTree will use modelling tools to be tested on several case studies chosen by the partners, each with different parameters to be tested.
As part of its activity directed towards policy makers, GenTree developed and completed a policy database that contains legislation and policy documents: http://policydatabase.boku.ac.at
Stakeholder engagement takes up a significant part of the projectâ€™s activity. Stakeholders were identified early on and a web-based, multi-language survey was launched to map stakeholder perceptions: 1) on the conservation and use of FGR and 2) on the potential of FGR for innovation in the forestry sector. Over 400 respondents answered the survey at least partially; the survey results are under analysis.
Finally, two major stakeholder consultation events were organized with EUFORGEN. The first event, on genotyping and with the FGR scientific community, was held in November 2016 and addressed the question of the management of forest reproductive material in light of environmental changes. The second event, on FGR conservation, was held in April 2017 and addressed the question of identifying the main constraints to achieve optimal in situ conservation of FGR in the different European countries. Both events are reported in the GenTree website.

Final results

GenTree brings together 22 public and private partners, contributing a wide variety of skills, expertise and long-standing experience in the area of FGR. Through its consortium and its network (e.g. EUFORGEN) and because of its strong stakeholder engagement, GenTree will disseminate ideas, increase knowledge and raise awareness on the importance of genetic resources for safeguarding healthy forests in the era of climate change.
The twelve forest tree species studied by the GenTree consortium can be considered as models for all 48 forest tree species listed in Directive 1999/105/EC, which regulates their trade in the EU. This is because these 12 species cover a wide range of bioclimates and forestry use, but also because scientific analysis approaches rely on transferable genomic approaches and process-based modelling.
Other long term expected impacts include providing evidence of the role of policy change concerning FGR on the forest nursery sector, demonstrating the role of FGR conservation in managing protected areas, contributing to nature-based solutions and helping sustainably manage forests at a time when environmental conditions are drastically changing.