Category: Events

The next EVOLTREE online seminar series takes place in November 2021. This fall, the series’ theme is “Genomics in Practice”. Speakers include:

Wednesday 3 November 2021 16:30-18:00 CET
Prof Mike Bruford, Cardiff University
Conserving genomic diversity for climate resilience in a changing world

Wednesday 10 November 2021 09:00-10:30 CET
Dr Rebecca Jordan, CSIRO Hobart
Building resilience to change: using genomics to guide plant restoration and conservation in a changing world

Wednesday 17 November 2021 16:30-18:00 CET
Prof Emily Latch, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Genomic data improves wildlife conservation

Thursday 25 November 2021 16:30-18:00 CET
Prof Louis Bernatchez, Laval University, Québec
Genomics applied to fisheries management and conservation

More information and to register: https://www.evoltree.eu/webinars

Image: Valiphotos, Pixabay

*Please note, this training course is postponed until early 2022*

The B4EST consortium, through the University of UPPSALA, INRAE, University of OULU and Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, in collaboration with EVOLTREE, is hosting a web course from September 21-24, 2021. The course will present the latest extensions of Fisher’s infinitesimal model, in particular the omnigenic model and discuss their implications for breeding, association studies and evolutionary inferences.

The course will cater to PhD students and postfoctoral fellows with background in population genetics and/or quantitative genetics.

The conference will take place via zoom https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/64413807543 To register please send an email to Martin Lascoux If you have problems with this address, please contact communications @ efi.int

General course plan: Each day we shall have 2 hours lecture in the morning and 2-3 hours tutorial in the afternoon. A detailed schedule will be sent to participants later on.

Panel of Experts (preliminary list): Santiago C. González-Martínez, Juliette Archambeau, Kalle Leppälä, Tanja Pyhäjärvi, Alina Niskanen, G. Giuseppe Vendramin, Antoine Kremer, Martin Lascoux

Content:

• Day 1: From the infinitesimal to the omnigenic model

• Day 2: The omnigenic model and evolution of quantitative traits architecture

• Day 3: Consequences of the omnigenic model for genomewide, multi-traits association: what we already know and what needs to be known

• Day 4: Estimating the genome-wide contribution of selection to temporal allele frequency change: principle and an application to forest trees

The first EVOLTREE Conference, hosted by WSL Birmensdorf (Switzerland) from 14-17 September, 2021, focuses on the genomics and adaptation of trees and interacting species from evolutionary, demographic, and ecological perspectives.

Contributions that apply innovative approaches and consider the relevance of their research in the context of biodiversity conservation through natural dynamics or silvicultural interference are welcome.

Registration and abstract submission is now open! https://conf.wsl.ch/evoltree/

EVOLTREE is a European network of research institutions and universities engaged in studying the evolution and functioning of forest ecosystems, in particular trees as the foundation species in forest stands. A prime topic in the face of ongoing climate change is to elucidate how trees, together with their associated organisms such as mycorrhizal fungi, respond to rapid environmental changes.

For more details, visit our conference website:
http://www.evoltree.eu/index.php/10-news/news-middle/180-evoltree-conference

Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, for now you can register only for the online conference. In early June 2021, decisions will be made if and how many attendees can participate on-site (subject to government travel restrictions that may change at short notice). You will then be able to acquire an additional on-site package.

Image by Lukasz Szmigiel from Pixabay

EVOLTREE is organizing a second series of virtual events featuring leading experts in research on climate change adaptation – both in forest trees and other organisms. The series is an opportunity to hear the latest from relevant scientists in the field, exchange ideas and discuss potential collaborations and projects.

You can participate in the discussions that follow the presentations by registering through the links below or follow the seminars on the EVOLTREE YouTube channel

Programme

14 April 2021, 11:00-12.30 CEST: “Building genetic resilience in a rapidly changing world” Ary Hoffmann, Melbourne University, Australia

21 April 2021, 16:30-18.00 CEST: “Integrating niche evolution with life history theory can help us better understand the consequences of climate change” Ophélie Ronce, University of Montpellier, France

5 May 2021, 16:30-18.00 CEST: “Locally-adaptive mutations and their relevance for climate change ecology” Moisés Expósito-Alonso, Carnegie Institute for Science & Stanford University, California

More information

The seats in the live sessions are limited to 150. All seminars will be streamed on the EVOLTREE YouTube channel and recorded to be available afterwards.

Please register for each webinar separately here

Image: Enrique Lopez Garre, Pixabay

LIFE project LIFESySTEMiC, EVOLTREE and COST Action(s), in collaboration with the Slovenian Forestry Institute, is organising its 8^th summer school on scientific writing, reviewing and publishing & forest genetic monitoring knowledge transfer into practice this coming August 9 to 14.

The summer school aims to provide Ph.d students, as well as junior and senior researchers training sessions on the production, the submission and the reviewing process of scientific publications.

For more information please visit Evoltree

credits: image by rawpixel.com

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907) will focus on Genetic control of forest tree traits and their interaction with the environment.

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 August 2021.

Guest editor: Dr. Rosario Garcia Gil

We call for research works in the field of forest genetics that advance our understanding on the genetic control of forest tree traits of economic and ecological value, and their interaction with a changing environment. We encourage research works that provide novel models for the implementation of genomics and remote sensing tools to accelerate and assist forest genetic adaptation to secure production and biodiversity.

More information: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests/special_issues/tree_traits_gene

Image: Kurt Bouda, Pixabay

EVOLTREE has launched a series of online seminars about polygenic adaptation in trees and other organisms. The events will be streamed on YouTube and recorded.

Variation in complex phenotypic traits, like growth, is known to be driven by many genes. For example, it has been shown that the height of humans is associated with thousands of regions in the genome. Approaches for detecting polygenic signals from genomic data, however, are still scarce and rarely applied. This seminar series aims to promote an exchange of knowledge among scientists working on polygenic adaptation in disparate organisms with the objective of facilitating development and wider uptake of the latest approaches.

Programme

28 October 2020, 16:30-18.00 CET
Jonathan Pritchard: ‘Architecture and adaptation of human complex traits’

4 November 2020, 16:30-18.00 CET
Emily Josephs ‘The evolutionary forces shaping gene expression variation’

18 November 2020, 16:30-18.00 CET
Sam Yeaman ‘A tale of two architectures: Local adaptation under migration-selection balance’

25 November 2020, 16:30-18.00 CET
Neda Barghi: ‘Polygenic adaptation in Drosophila’

More information

Registration: here.

The seats in the live sessions are limited to 100. All those registered participants who won’t make it to the virtual room because of the limited places are invited to follow the seminar on the EVOLTREE YouTube channel.

http://www.evoltree.org/index.php/10-news/news-middle/179-evoltree-webinars

Image: Pete Linforth, Pixabay

Our B4EST webinar held on 10 December introduced the Planter’s Guide.

The Planter’s Guide is a web-based decision support tool for improved Scots pine forest reproductive material (FRM) in Sweden and Finland. By selecting a regeneration site, the Planter’s Guide ranks all available seed orchards according to their predicted areal production over a rotation. However, as both growth and survival ability are shown separately the user can use this information for a more detailed selection.

Find out more about the Planter’s Guide

Agenda

Introduction: Rach Colling, European Forest Institute

Presentation: Mats Berlin, Skogforsk 

Live testing of the tool: Mats Berlin, Skogforsk

Questions 

Materials

Download Mats’ presentation

Background paper:
Scots pine transfer effect models for growth and survival in Sweden and Finland

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwqYVy8PxeM

The XXV IUFRO World Congress will be held in Curitiba, Brazil from 29 September to 5 October 2019.

Several researchers involved with the B4EST project will be presenting at the Congress:

• 1.10.2019 Agathe Hurel, INRA

Genetic variation, trade-offs and association genetics for growth, bud burst and pathogen susceptibility in maritime pine

This work is related to both WP1 (genetic variation) and WP2 (trade-offs)

• 5.10.2019 Santiago C. González-Martínez, INRA

Negative selection and polygenic adaptation in maritime pine

This research is part of the work done in maritime pine for WP2, in collaboration with INIA and CNR (among others).

• 5.10.2019 Mateusz Liziniewicz, Skogforsk

The status of forest trees breeding in Sweden and realized genetic gain in Norway spruce breeding program

Several sessions are of interest to the B4EST community:

• B1e: Trees on the move: seed sourcing, germination, genetic adaptation and assisted migration in a changing climate
• B2c Novel advances in genomics and tree breeding for sustainable forests
• D2a Applied genetics for forest management and conservation
• D2b Conservation, Domestication and breeding of native species
• D2c Conservation, sustainable management and development of forest genetic resources across their ranges: regional research and collaboration

Further details can be found here: http://iufro2019.com/technical-sessions/

Image of Botanic Gardens: Hezaro, Pixabay

17 September 2019, Aberdeen
09.00-12.00

The EVOLTREE Scientific Seminar will explore the ways in which forest tree genetics can be applied to increase local adaptation and resilience in future forests.

New genetic and genomics approaches, including new-generation breeding strategies, have great potential to harness natural genetic variation to promote forest health and productivity, in particular in the face of global disturbances, such as climate change, land fragmentation and emerging pests and diseases.

Speakers include:

Delphine Grivet (INIA) – “Using genomics to characterize evolutionary potential for conservation”
Christophe Orazio (EFI) – “REINFFORCE: First results from 35 forest tree species plasticity assessment in common gardens along the Atlantic Coast, from Portugal to Scotland”
Duncan Ray (Forest Research) – “Using climate projection uncertainty to select FRM for future forest sites”
Santiago C. González-Martínez (INRA) – “Gene networks and polygenic adaptation in two conifers with contrasted demography, maritime pine and English yew”

Sue Jones (The James Hutton Institute) – “Could viruses pose a threat to native tree species?”
Markus Müller (University of Göttingen)- “Investigation of adaptive genetic variation in European beech by means of candidate gene and transcriptome analyses”
Emma Bush (CEH) – “Tropical tree phenology in a time of change’”
Lindsay Banin (CEH) – “Intra- and interspecific leaf trait variation, decomposition processes and the ‘home-field advantage’ in European woodlands”

More information

View the programme

Registration

Photo: Felix Mittermeier/pixabay

December 10-13, 2019 at INIA, Madrid, Spain

As part of Gentree project (www.gentree-h2020.eu) dissemination and training activities, this workshop aims to provide a general conceptual background and hands-on experience in the analysis of molecular and quantitative genetic data, and of trait-based species distribution models (ΔTraitSDM), for conservation genetics relevant problems in tree species. Emphasis will be on statistical and modelling tools, rather than on the data acquisition process.

Topics will cover: summary of relevant population genetic parameters in conservation; estimation of effective population size and inbreeding; estimation of genetic connectivity and introgression; surveying genome-wide molecular diversity in natural populations; inferences of selection and historical demography; design and analysis of common garden experiments to assess adaptive quantitative genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity; estimation of additive genetic variance, heritability and evolvability; trait-based species distribution models (ΔTraitSDM) as forecast tools for genetic conservation.

Registration is free and the organization will cover the accommodation expenses, breakfast and lunches of up to 20 students.

The application deadline is July 25th, please visit the workshop’s website below for application instructions, the list of instructors, contact information, and other details:

http://www.gentree-h2020.eu/events/event/training-workshop-on-methods-in-forest-conservation-genetics

Photo: Markus Spiske, Unsplash

28-30 October 2019, HÖÖR, Sweden
More information

Organised by the GENTREE project.
Participants: forest managers and practitioners, forest breeders
Deadline for application: 15 June 2019

Tree breeders must often consider conservation of genetic diversity, while at the same time they attempt to maximize genetic response to selection. This challenge is common to management of populations for both gene conservation and elite breeding, as well as to assembly of deployment populations, such as seed orchards and mixtures of selected clones. GenTree has developed several tools and advanced methods for addressing this challenge.

The purpose of this course is to provide participants with the background and user-skills necessary to apply these tools correctly in the context of applied forest tree breeding programs. Different tools for “optimum selection” will be presented, such as “OPSEL”, which uses state-of-the-art mathematical approaches to optimize selection with a specified constraint on gene diversity. Other approaches include managing genetic diversity at the genomic level to guarantee short- and long-term genetic gains or levels of fitness, notably under genomic-evaluation scenarios.

After “optimizing” genetic contributions to a selected population, the practitioner still faces the daunting task of preparing mating plans that respect these contributions, while avoiding excessive relatedness between parents. A generalized tool “XDesign” makes this task straightforward, allowing the user to specify a threshold on the maximum acceptable coancestry between mates.

The training will show the concepts and functioning of several strategies to account explicitly for diversity across the genome of candidates during selection and mating steps in the context of breeding and conservation programs. Breeding strategy evaluation will be addressed with R-scripts and the simulation package “POPSIM’.

More information: Johan Westin (Skogforsk, johan.westin@skogforsk.se)

Photo: Stocksnap/Pixabay