Aspire Grant Program Awardee

Chrissy Garel Makouanzi Ekomono

Varietal Adaptation and Genetic Variability in the Response of Eucalyptus in a Changing Environment

<p>Projections show that Africa is the continent most affected by climate change and there is a risk of exceeding the adaptive capacity of many forest ecosystems to supply goods and services. The global climate change will be a certain selection pressure with intensities that remain unpredictable till date. In addition, the pressure on populations of forest trees whose genetic diversity is just about to be investigated. Faced with global climate change, it is necessary to adapt the species to new environments and to understand the biological processes that promote this adaptation, where studies of genotype-environment interactions (G × E) and ecophysiological mechanisms linked adaptation. In the perspective of a variety broadcast-farm and / or industrial for multiple uses (wood energy, pole, poles, construction wood, utilization of by products of the plantations), knowledge of the degree of adaptability and stability plant material is required. Two devices: a multi-site test of full-sib progeny E.urophylla × Egrandis with vegetative copies of each individual and a comparative test of 29 species of eucalyptus covering a wide climate change, will be used respectively to quantify the interaction G × E, and then estimate the different components of genetic variance in interaction with the environment; and finally understand the ecophysiological mechanisms of adapting to a changing environment eucalyptus.</p>