Guidelines for the choice of forest reproductive material in the face of climate change

Due to the long-lived nature of trees, silviculture is a practice<br/>that takes a long-term perspective. In a context of rapid projected<br/>climate changes, forest managers need to find ways to take<br/>decisions about the long-term management of forest stands<br/>without complete knowledge about what future conditions will be<br/>like. Existing knowledge does not allow us to determine precisely<br/>whether a close-to-nature approach (which relies on spontaneous,<br/>natural processes) or proactive interventions in forest regeneration<br/>is better suited to fostering adaptation in forest ecosystems.<br/>Adaptation is the micro-evolutionary process enhancing the fitness<br/>of a population in accordance with the environmental conditions.<br/>One idea that has been proposed is human-assisted transfer of tree<br/>populations, guided by projections of future climate conditions,<br/>but it has not been widely accepted in Europe, partly because of<br/>uncertainties about the results of this approach and partly because<br/>climate changes have so far affected Europe to a lower extent than<br/>other regions, such as North America.<br/>The present guidelines focus on issues related to the choice of<br/>forest reproductive material (FRM) in the face of climate change,<br/>based on knowledge generated by field studies and modelling.<br/>The objective is not to single out the most appropriate approach,<br/>valid in all conditions, but rather to present most recent research<br/>findings to support decision-making and analysis by forest<br/>managers, conservationists and field ecologists