Genomic Adaptation and Population Dynamics in Forest Trees

Forest trees exhibit remarkable resilience in their genomes and population structures over vast temporal and spatial scales. Comparative demographic reconstructions have shown that many dominant species maintained stable or increasing effective population sizes through successive glacial–interglacial cycles, preserving high levels of genetic diversity despite major range shifts. Advances in whole-genome sequencing, population genomics and statistical inference now enable detailed mapping of past demographic events, gene flow corridors and selection pressures across continuous landscapes. These studies highlight both shared demographic trajectories among distantly related taxa and species-specific responses driven by life-history traits such as generation time, dispersal capacity and ecological niche breadth. Genome-wide scans and quantitative genetics approaches have identified loci and genomic regions underlying key adaptive traits—phenology, drought tolerance and wood properties—while genotyping arrays and targeted capture methods facilitate high-throughput screening of natural and breeding populations. Integrating ecological data with genomic insights informs conservation strategies, assisted migration and genomic-assisted breeding, underpinning efforts to sustain forest health and productivity under rapid environmental change.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have revealed that across seven ecologically contrasting European forest tree species, genetic diversity has remained stable or increased over glacial cycles spanning millions of years. Effective population sizes retained evolutionary potential despite range shifts, underscoring the resilience of forest tree genomes to past environmental upheavals.

Genomic Adaptation and Population Dynamics in Forest Trees publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in genomic adaptation and population dynamics in forest trees across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Effective population size (Ne): The number of individuals in an idealised population that would show the same amount of genetic drift as the observed population.

Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP): A variation at a single base pair in the DNA sequence among individuals of a species.

Genomic selection: A breeding method that uses genome-wide marker data to predict the genetic value of individuals for complex traits.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS): An approach to associate genetic variants across the genome with phenotypic traits in a population.

References

1. Resilience of genetic diversity in forest trees over the Quaternary. Nature Communications (2024).
2. Whole‐genome resequencing facilitates the development of a 50K single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping array for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and its transferability to other pine species. The Plant Journal (2023).
3. A major locus controls local adaptation and adaptive life history variation in a perennial plant. Genome Biology (2018).
4. Genome‐wide association study identified novel candidate loci affecting wood formation in Norway spruce. The Plant Journal (2019).