Dynamische Generhaltung in Europas Wäldern: Paneuropäische Konzepte nehmen Gestalt an

Abstract

Dynamic gene conservation in European forests: Pan-European concepts shaping up Forests in Europe consist mainly of wild, undomesticated tree populations showing high genetic variation that has been shaped by postglacial migration and manifold adaptations to their local environments. To conserve this genetic diversity, many European countries have developed programs for the conservation of forest genetic resources, which consist not only of seed orchards but also of forest stands for in situ gene conservation. The long-term aim of the so called “dynamic gene conservation” is the maintenance of the most important ecological and, on a longer time scale, evolutionary processes. In the European cooperation project EUFGIS, Pan-European minimum requirements for units of dynamic gene conservation in forests were developed. On the basis of these criteria, a common database of all these identified units was established. Moreover, the representativeness of the nominated conservation units for ecological zones and continental hot spots of genetic diversity was analyzed, and the vulnerability of the network under climate change was investigated. This analysis showed that the present network of dynamic conservation units for various tree species contains significant gaps in its ecological and phylogenetic representativeness and indicates that up to 65% of the nominated conservation units of a target tree species will be highly vulnerable under climate change. Therefore, the network of gene conservation units needs to be extended, and additional transnational conservation actions including European assisted migration schemes should be considered.