Overview
Full title: GenTree – Optimizing the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe
Funding programme: Horizon 2020 (Grant Agreement No. 676876)
Duration: 2016–2020
Coordinator: Bruno Fady, INRAE (France)
Main objective: to provide the European forestry sector with better knowledge, methods and tools for optimising the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources (FGR) in Europe.
Main scientific questions
- How much genetic diversity and adaptive potential do key European forest species hold across their natural ranges?
- How are genetic variation and phenotypic traits linked to climatic and environmental gradients?
- How can genomic tools improve FGR conservation?
- What management and breeding strategies best maintain adaptive potential under climate change?
- How can data and models be used to inform policy and support FGR monitoring?
Main outcomes
Scientific Advances
- Produced genomic and phenotypic data for 12 major European tree species.
- Developed exome sequencing and SPET genotyping panels and protocols for multi-species analyses.
- Provided the first pan-European maps of adaptive genetic variation.
Policy and Practice Impact
- Informed FORGENIUS and EUFORGEN Phase VII on improving GCU network representation.
- Supported Forest Europe’s work on FGR indicators.
- Provided recommendations for dynamic conservation and forest reproductive material (FRM) use under climate change.
Key publications and outputs
- Benavides, R., Carvalho, B., Bastias, C. C., López-Quiroga, D., Mas, A., Cavers, S., Gray, A., Albet, A., Alía, R., Ambrosio, O., Aravanopoulos, F., Auñón, F., Avanzi, C., Avramidou, E. V., Bagnoli, F., Ballesteros, E., Barbas, E., Bastien, C., Bernier, F., … Valladares, F. (2021). The GenTree Leaf Collection: Inter- and intraspecific leaf variation in seven forest tree species in Europe. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 30(3), 590–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13239
- Fady, B., Aravanopoulos, F., Benavides, R., González-Martínez, S., Grivet, D., Lascoux, M., Lindner, M., Rellstab, C., Valladares, F., & Vinceti, B. (2020). Genetics to the rescue: Managing forests sustainably in a changing world. Tree Genetics & Genomes, 16(6), 80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-01474-8
- Martínez-Sancho, E., Slámová, L., Morganti, S., Grefen, C., Carvalho, B., Dauphin, B., Rellstab, C., Gugerli, F., Opgenoorth, L., Heer, K., Knutzen, F., von Arx, G., Valladares, F., Cavers, S., Fady, B., Alía, R., Aravanopoulos, F., Avanzi, C., Bagnoli, F., … Fonti, P. (2020). The GenTree Dendroecological Collection, tree-ring and wood density data from seven tree species across Europe. Scientific Data, 7(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0340-y
- Milesi, P., Kastally, C., Dauphin, B., Cervantes, S., Bagnoli, F., Budde, K. B., Cavers, S., Fady, B., Faivre-Rampant, P., González-Martínez, S. C., Grivet, D., Gugerli, F., Jorge, V., Lesur Kupin, I., Ojeda, D. I., Olsson, S., Opgenoorth, L., Pinosio, S., Plomion, C., … Pyhäjärvi, T. (2024). Resilience of genetic diversity in forest trees over the Quaternary. Nature Communications, 15(1), 8538. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52612-y
- Opgenoorth, L., Dauphin, B., Benavides, R., Heer, K., Alizoti, P., Martínez-Sancho, E., Alía, R., Ambrosio, O., Audrey, A., Auñón, F., Avanzi, C., Avramidou, E., Bagnoli, F., Barbas, E., Bastias, C. C., Bastien, C., Ballesteros, E., Beffa, G., Bernier, F., … Cavers, S. (2021). The GenTree Platform: Growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species. GigaScience, 10(3), giab010. https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giab010
Contribution to EUFORGEN objectives
GenTree provided foundational data and methodologies that strengthened the EUFGIS system and supported the design of the next-generation GCU network. The project’s results continue to inform EUFORGEN’s work on dynamic conservation, genetic monitoring, and policy integration.
Legacy and follow-up
GenTree laid the groundwork for the FORGENIUS (H2020) and OptFORESTS (Horizon Europe) projects, ensuring continuity in FGR characterisation, monitoring, and data integration under the EUFORGEN umbrella.
Partners
- Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRAE), France (the coordinator of the project)
- Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain
- Uppsala Universitet (UU), Sweden
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), Greece
- European Forest Institute (EFI), Finland
- Bioversity International, Italy
- Philipps-Universität Marburg (PUM), Germany
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
- Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Spain
- University of Oulu (UOULU), Finland
- IGA Technology Services (IGATS), Italy
- Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO), Norway
- Forestry Research Institute of Sweden (Skogforsk), Sweden
- Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute (THÜNEN), Germany
- Bavarian Office for Forest Seeding and Planting (ASP), Germany
- The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Great Britain
- Aleksandras Stulginskis University (ASU), Lithuania
- INRA Transfert (IT), France
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Switzerland
- Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Russia
- Radiata Pine Breeding Co Ltd (RPBC), New Zealand
- LIECO Gmbh & Co KGH (LIECO), Austria
