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How does natural selection shape the future of forest trees, and can management practices help strengthen their resilience to climate change? The first EUFORGEN webinar of 2025 examined these questions by looking at how thinning and other interventions influence drought tolerance, stress responses and the long-term adaptive capacity of forest populations. The session was organised in collaboration with the Horizon Europe OptFORESTS project.
The webinar was led by François Lefèvre, a geneticist at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE, France), based in the Mediterranean Forest Ecology research unit in Avignon. François also serves as president of the French Commission on Forest Genetic Resources and as France’s national coordinator in the EUFORGEN programme.
With a background in quantitative and population genetics, François has led interdisciplinary research on the effects of forest management on both short-term performance and long-term adaptation in a changing climate. The presentation was co-authored with Victor Fririon.
List of references cited in the webinar presentation – Download document (PDF)
Mediterranean stone pines are facing a pest that is seriously damaging their health. Can forest genetic research bring hope for solutions? The emblematic Mediterranean stone pine is being attacked by an insect called the pine tortoise scale. This pest is currently affecting numerous populations in Italy, and controls are being carried out to reduce it. However, total eradication is unlikely due to the effects of climate change.
The EUFORGEN webinar "Mediterranean stone pines under attack: the invasion of the pine tortoise scale" addressed this threat to the species from different angles with a panel of leading experts and researchers, including Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat (EFI Mediterranean Facility), Bruno Fady (INRAE), Maurizio Sabatti (University of Tuscia), and Giuseppe Scarascia (EFI Biocities Facility).
Forest genetic resources (FGR) are crucial for forest ecosystems' adaptability and resilience to environmental change. The effective population size (Ne) is a key parameter indicating a population's genetic diversity, and its estimation is vital for FGR conservation.
This webinar featured researchers working on estimating effective population size for FGR conservation to present their views and suggest methods on how to effectively estimate Ne and if it could be used as an indicator. The panel of guest speakers was formed by Juan Jose Robledo-Arnuncio (INIA, Spain), Sean Hoban (The Morton Arboretum, USA) and Bruno Fady (INRAE, France).
This online session was focused on the spread and invasion of diseases and pests affecting ash populations. The guest speakers for Webinar #1 were Michelle Cleary, forest pathologist, and Rimvydas Vasaitis, researcher and a field mycologist, both from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).
This online session was focused on the genetic tolerance and resistance to ash dieback in populations of this tree species. The guest speakers for Webinar #2 were Richard Buggs, Professor of Evolutionary Genomics at Queen Mary University of London; Ben Bubner, Head of the Unit Pathogen Resistance Research at Thuenen Institute of Forest Genetic; and Heino Konrad, Head of the Unit for Ecological Genetics, Department of Forest Biodiversity and Nature Conservation, at the Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW).
This online session was focused on natural selection in ash populations related to the spreading of ash dieback and its genomic evidence in an unmanaged woodland. The guest speakers for Webinar #3 were Erik Dahl Kjaer, Professor in Genetics of woody plant species at the University of Copenhagen; and Richard Buggs, Professor of Evolutionary Genomics at Queen Mary University of London.
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