In a nutshell

ACORN is a research project run by a consortium of six academic and governmental institutes. Our aim is to help oak forests withstand climate change. We are based throughout southern and central Europe.

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Why this project?

Given the pace of climate change, it is questionable whether local gene pools of forest trees allow them to adapt to the changing environmental conditions. ACORN is exploring ways to increase oak forests' capacity to adapt by transfering seeds from suitable sites to sites that may not otherwise withstand climate change. We focus on oak trees because they are known to support a great amount of biodiversity and because they are thought to be highly adaptable.

ACORN considers...

...three oak species (Quercus robur, Q. petraea, Q. pubescens)

...120+ forests

...12 countries spanning southern and central Europe

What we are working on

ACORN combines comprehensive genetic and genomic analyses with common garden experiments

The project is divided up in 6 sections

1. Population selection

2. Species identification

3. Adaptive signatures

4. Phenotype x genotype interactions

5. Assisted gene flow protocols

6. Project coordination

Our goals

To detect signatures of adaptation to drought at the regional and continent-wide scale in the genome of oaks.

To investigate physiological and morphological traits involved in drought tolerance and address their genetic background.

To address whether forest reproductive material transfer at the regional/continental scale will significantly increase the adaptive capacity of future forests.