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.