Hi everybody!

We have a Genetics seminar January 25 at 12.15 in KTK303 by

MSc Matti Salmela (Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh and Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh)

"Putting 'Scots' back in Scots pine - evolution of
native pinewoods in Scotland"

Wellcome!

Helmi

Talk summary: Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is an iconic foundation
species in the Scottish Highlands, but the current abundance of the
species in Scotland is only a small fraction of its postglacial
maximum. Today, Great Britain?s Forestry Commission recognizes 84
native pinewoods of variable size, the core area of which adds up to
~18,000 ha. Starting in the late 1980s, various schemes have been
initiated to promote planting of new and expansion of old pinewoods,
but only little is known about patterns of adaptive genetic variation
among populations within the country. As a result, seed zones for the
species have been designated based on earlier studies on selectively
neutral molecular marker variation. In this talk I will present
results from my PhD study on the evolution of native pinewoods in the
climatically heterogeneous Scotland and show evidence of
environment-driven genetic differentiation in spring phenology and in
photochemical capacity in response to natural winter and spring
temperatures. In addition to distinct spatial heterogeneity, variation
in the Scottish climate also has a strong temporal component which
could contribute to adaptation processes and to patterns of genetic
diversity.