Forests and global change: what can genetics contribute to the major forest management and policy challenges of the twenty-first century?

Abstract

The conservation and sustainable use of forests in the twenty-first century pose huge challenges for forest management and policy. Society demands that forests provide a wide range of ecosystem services, from timber products, raw materials and renewable energy to sociocultural amenities and habitats for nature conservation. Innovative management and policy approaches need to be developed to meet these often-conflicting demands in a context of environmental change of uncertain magnitude and scale. Genetic diversity is a key component of resilience and adaptability. Overall, forest tree populations are genetically very diverse, conferring them an enormous potential for genetic adaptation via the processes of gene flow and natural selection. Here, we review the main challenges facing our forests in the coming century and focus on how recent progress in genetics can contribute to the development of appropriate practical actions that forest managers and policy makers can adopt to promote forest resilience to climate change. Emerging knowledge will inform and clarify current controversies relating to the choice of appropriate genetic resources for planting, the effect of silvicultural systems and stand tending on adaptive potential and the best ways to harness genetic diversity in breeding and conservation programs. Gaps in our knowledge remain, and we identify where additional information is needed (e.g., the adaptive value of peripheral populations or the genetic determinism of key adaptive traits) and the types of studies that are required to provide this key understanding.

Unexpected scenarios from Mediterranean refugial areas: disentangling complex demographic dynamics along the Apennine distribution of silver fir

“…Second, the existence of a sharp genetic boundary in the central Apennines poses the basis for studying possible south‐to‐north adaptive gene flow in this area. With ongoing climate warming, genotypes able to perform well in warmer and drier conditions are expected to be selectively advantaged both in local persistence and during latitudinal and altitudinal migrations, in particular at the Mediterranean latitudes (Fady et al ., ). In this context, the genetic boundary found in central Italy, corresponding to an area where ecological conditions markedly change (Brunetti et al ., ; Combourieu‐Nebout et al ., ), might represent an ideal location for studying the role of gene flow in promoting adaptive responses to climate change (Kremer et al ., ).…”

Short communication: Functional genetic diversity of chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) populations from southern Spain

“…Genetic diversity plays a vital role in determining the ability for adaptation of forest populations to new conditions (Fady et al, 2016). Molecular markers such as microsatellites (SSRs), have become the most used tool for studying forest genetics, because they are highly polymorphic, codominant and widespread across the entire genome (Powel et al, 1996).…”

Characteristics and drivers of forest cover change in the post-socialist era in Croatia: evidence from a mixed-methods approach

“…In Europe forests cover 37% of the terrestrial surface and have marked ecological, economical as well as socio-cultural significance (Thompson et al 2009;Fady et al 2015). …”