Genetic considerations for provenance choice of native trees under climate change in England.
Abstract
This report begins by describing three major modes of anticipated environmental change and their impacts on forests in England: (i) directional change in mean values of some climatic variables; (ii) increasing frequency and severity of extreme events; and (iii) interactions between climate change and pests and diseases. Then provide an overview of fundamental evolutionary principles to develop a picture of how genetic variation is generated, maintained and organized within and among populations of trees. The relevance of these processes to forest management is then discussed and is followed by an account of how adaptive genetic variation can be measured and described in experimental trials. The main body of the report is a summary of published knowledge of the adaptive genetic resources of British tree species. This is arranged by taxon, and every study identified as sufficient to address the question at hand has been summarized in tables which contain details of both its experimental configuration, and brief statements summarizing its key findings.