EUFORGEN Webinars
The EUFORGEN webinar series aims to provide a forum for discussion on the most burning and cutting-edge themes in forest genetic resources and forest science. The series addresses a wide range of topics, including the analysis of how climate events affect genetic diversity and forest resilience, as well as the opportunities and challenges presented by genetic research for sustainable forest management practices and ecosystem protection.
The webinars explore the issues currently being discussed in the European green agenda and beyond, bringing together experts, scientists, practitioners and members of the general public interested in the environment and its conservation.
Webinar - 11 April 2025
The first webinar of 2025 explores how natural selection shapes tree populations and how forest management can enhance their adaptive capacity to climate change. How do thinning and other interventions affect resilience to drought and environmental stress? Can forest management harness natural selection to strengthen long-term resilience? This online session is organised in collaboration with the Horizon Europe OptFORESTS project.
The speaker for this webinar is François Lefèvre, a geneticist at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE, France), based in the Mediterranean Forest Ecology research unit (URFM) in Avignon. In addition to his research, François serves as the president of the French Commission on Forest Genetic Resources (CRGF) and as the national coordinator for France in the EUFORGEN programme.
With a background in quantitative and population genetics, François has led interdisciplinary research focusing on the impacts of forest management on both the short-term performance and long-term adaptive capacity of forests in the context of climate change, within a broader framework of social-ecological approaches. The presentation for this webinar will be co-authored with Victor Fririon.
List of references cited in the webinar presentation – Download document (PDF)
