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Ouvrages Année : 2020

Decision support tool for the management of dynamic genetic conservation units

Burcu Cengel
  • Fonction : Auteur
Kristel Järve
  • Fonction : Auteur
D. Kajba
  • Fonction : Auteur
Leena Yrjänä
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 1069786
Michele Bozzano
  • Fonction : Auteur
  • PersonId : 1119999

Résumé

The diversity of forests at species and population levels is a vital resource, and in recent years many countries in Europe have made considerable progress in ensuring the conservation of forest genetic resources (FGR). An important contribution to the conservation of FGR was the establishment of a network of Genetic conservation units (GCUs) in forest areas. These GCUs are designed to contain tree populations that have adapted to specific environmental conditions, have distinct characteristics and are subject to natural selection. According to the European information system on FGR (EUFGIS), Europe has more than 3200 of these genetic conservation units, which between them harbour 4000 different populations of about 100 different species. GCU management currently aims to maintain and enhance the long-term evolutionary potential of the target tree species they contain with regular monitoring, to confirm that they are still able to serve their purpose and have not been damaged or destroyed. In its Phase IV (2010-2014), EUFORGEN established a comprehensive Pan-European strategy for genetic conservation of forest trees in order to allow European countries to coordinate and monitor their conservation efforts. However, the strategy was not specifically designed to conserve FGR under climate change, which will result in new and intensified challenges in relation to ecology and adaptation as well as competing socioeconomic demands on land use and for forest goods. Therefore, the EUFORGEN Steering Committee initiated additional measures via working groups in Phase IV (2010-14) and Phase V (2015-2019). One of these working groups was tasked to further develop a previously considered Decision Cascade Tool, which has now been updated and renamed a decision support tool (DST). The DST is intended to relate indications of threat from climate change to possible conservation actions within GCUs. The tool is to be added to EUFGIS, which contains details of GCUs across Europe and is maintained by the EUFORGEN programme. This report of EUFORGEN Working Group 7 on the decision support tool for the management of dynamic genetic conservation units thoroughly explores and gives practical details and process overviews of all relevant aspects of an operational decision support tool for GCU managers that would identify threats and provide guidance on the management of GCUs with a long term perspective. It also looks at the possibility of introducing new types of GCU, for example including marginal and peripheral populations, and integrating additional basic information from GCUs into EUFGIS. The working group considered how best to identify suitable marginal and peripheral populations to add to the GCU network because such populations are likely to contain unique genetic diversity. It also made recommendations for the further development and elaboration of the DST. Most of the open questions around the decision support tool have been answered and a practically applicable and effective tool is ready for implementation within EUFGIS. However, the information system requires additional features to be developed in order for the data to be visualised so that the tool can serve as an early warning system. The Working Group recommends that once final corrections to the data structure and clarification of the relationship with existing databases have been completed, the DST be implemented in EUFGIS as soon as possible and made available for use by national GCU coordinators and managers. A brief user manual and an introductory course for users should also be developed. The Working Group hopes that this decision support tool will prove useful and valuable for the management of forest genetic resources in Europe and that it will become an internationally-used tool within sustainable forest management.
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Dates et versions

hal-04175281 , version 1 (26-09-2023)

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Paternité

Identifiants

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A. Rudow, Marjana Westergren, Joukje Buiteveld, Václav Buriánek, Burcu Cengel, et al.. Decision support tool for the management of dynamic genetic conservation units. European Forest Institute, 91 p, 2020, 978-952-5980-98-1. ⟨10.3929/ethz-b-000459391⟩. ⟨hal-04175281⟩
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