Adaptation potential of forest tree populations in the context of climate change

The project is aimed at the study of climatic adaptation of forest trees based on integrated assessment of growth, phenological, physiological and tissue-structural traits and adaptive genetic variation in provenance trials and other field tests of forest trees with known geographic origin of the tested units. The project focuses on the identification of geographical patterns of variation of such traits, identification of their interrelationship, their correlations with the climates of origin, and quantification of their heritability. The acquired knowledge on the patterns of the reaction of tree species to transfer and trends of the physiological responses to drought and temúperature stresses will serve as a basis for the assessment of the possibilities for the mitigation of climate change effects on forest tree populations by means of forest reproductive material transfer or other ways of assistet migration.