title: Advances in ecological genomics in forest trees and applications to genetic resources conservation and breeding.
abstract: Forest trees are an unparalleled group of organisms in their combined ecological, economic and societal importance. With widespread distributions, predominantly random mating systems and large population sizes, most tree species harbour extensive genetic variation both within and among populations. At the same time, demographic processes associated with Pleistocene climate oscillations and land-use change have affected contemporary range-wide diversity and may impinge on the potential for future adaptation. Understanding how these adaptive and neutral processes have shaped the genomes of trees species is therefore central to their management and conservation. As for many other taxa, the advent of high-throughput sequencing methods is expected to yield an understanding of the interplay between the genome and environment at a level of detail and depth not possible only a few years ago. An international conference entitled 'Genomics and Forest Tree Genetics' was held in May 2016, in Arcachon (France), and brought together forest geneticists with a wide range of research interests to disseminate recent efforts that leverage contemporary genomic tools to probe the population, quantitative and evolutionary genomics of trees. An important goal of the conference was to discuss how such data can be applied to both genome-enabled breeding and the conservation of forest genetic resources under land use and climate change. Here, we report discoveries presented at the meeting and discuss how the ecological genomic toolkit can be used to address both basic and applied questions in tree biology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, 304 Cheatham Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
authors.forename: Jason A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2662-8790
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Holliday
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia, 3041-2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada.
authors.forename: Sally N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Aitken
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, 5-108 Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, Edmonton, AB T6G2E9, Canada.
authors.forename: Janice E K
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.affiliation: Mediterranean Forest Ecology (URFM), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Domaine St Paul, Site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon, France.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fady
authors.affiliation: BIOGECO, INRA, Universite de Bordeaux, 69 Route d'Arcachon, 33612 Cestas, France.
authors.forename: Santiago C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: González-Martínez
authors.affiliation: BIOGECO, INRA, Universite de Bordeaux, 69 Route d'Arcachon, 33612 Cestas, France.
authors.forename: Myriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heuertz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) Circuito Exterior s/n, Apartado Postal 70-275, 04510 Ciudad de México, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan-Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Jaramillo-Correa
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna Faculty of Life SciencesRennweg 14, Room 217, A-1030, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lexer
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, University of Tennessee, 370 Plant Biotechnology Building, 2505 EJ Chapman Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Staton
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University Jordan Hall Addition 5231, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
authors.forename: Ross W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Whetten
authors.affiliation: BIOGECO, INRA, Universite de Bordeaux, 69 Route d'Arcachon, 33612 Cestas, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Plomion
mesh_terms: D057231:Climate Change; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D065928:Forests; D005602:France; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods*; D000069600:Plant Breeding; D014197:Trees / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: adaptation; conservation genetics; forestry; genomics/proteomics; molecular evolution; phylogeography