The 2015 joint call for proposals launched by the AFORCE network and LabEx ARBRE has resulted in the launch of three new knowledge-transfer projects. They focus on predictive mapping and modeling of forest dynamics :

• IKSMAPS : Producing precalculated potential future distribution maps for the main species of French forests through IKS modeling

• PRESTATION-NO : Spatial prediction for forest stations in northwestern France

• SYLFORCLIM: Mediterranean and Alpine forests and climate change in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur

Learn more about the AFORCE network

In 2008, foresters and researchers joined forces to create AFORCE, a mixed technology research and development network (RMT) devoted to the adaptation of forests to climate change. AFORCE is a multi-stakeholder network: it brings together actors in research, development, management, education and training. Its mission is to provide forest managers with practical tools and support guides to help them make the best management choices.

Research Unit — Forest Economics Laboratory (LEF)

Abstract

Assesssing the cost-effectiveness of a biodiversity conservation policy:
A bio-econometric analysis of Natura 2000 contracts for forests
Hily E, Garcia S, Stenger A, Tu G. November 2015. Ecological Economics.

The Natura 2000 European Networking Program was established to promote long-term conservation of biodiversity across Europe, with particular focus on protecting species and habitats of local community interest. As a member state, France proposed to support direct involvement of local stakeholders in the network, notably land managers and land-owners responsible for natural, agricultural and forested areas by establishing contractual relationships with the State. By agreeing to the terms of a “Natura 2000 Contract”, land managers and land-owners commit to implementing conservation measures specifically designed to favor identifiable habitats or species at risk, and receive a payment in exchange.

The objective of this study was to evaluate “Natura 2000 Contracts” designed for forest environments by using a “cost-efficiency” approach. To do this, we looked at existing Natura 2000 contracts for forests between 2007 and 2010 to determine if by definition, they contributed to biodiversity conservation through a system of monetary incentive mechanisms paid to the contract beneficiary.

We performed statistical analysis of all Natura 2000 forest contracts signed between 2007 and 2010 in France. We successfully quantified biodiversity levels targeted by each contract using a biodiversity index accounting for three criteria: vulnerability and rarity of species and habitats targeted by the contract, as well as richness specific to targeted habitats and species. We also considered specific socioeconomic characteristics of forest managers and land owners together with their s environments (private or public in nature, local forestry production demands or specific land constraints), to effectively study possible future conflicts or synergy between biodiversity conservation and other activities conducted by contract beneficiaries (wood production, for example). In the end, were able to propose a bio-economical model combining a biodiversity conservation cost function with a biodiversity and wood production function.

Overall, our results emphasize the relevance and effectiveness of the Natura 2000 established objectives and may act as a decision support tool for policy recommendations related to contracts targeting, ultimately to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the incentive scheme.

Stable Isotopes in Forest Ecosystem Research
25-29 April
INRA Nancy-Lorraine Center
Champenoux

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The University of Lorraine (RP2E Doctoral School) and the French National Insitute of Agricultural Research (INRA), within the framework of LabEx ARBRE, are organizing a fourth edition of the International Doctoral Course “Stable Isotopes in Forest Ecosystem Research” (SIFER). The week-long course will be held on the INRA Nancy-Lorraine campus in Champenoux from April 25 to April 29, 2016.

Many ecological processes that occur in forest ecosystems produce a distinct isotopic footprint which can then be used to trace the origin and transfer of major elements into ecological processes, to decipher the effects environmental changes have on metabolic pathways and to understand complex interactions between ecosystem compartments and ecological processes in trees, and more broadly, in forests. Environmental isotope techniques are proven tools for providing relevant information on forest ecosystems and is an area that is experiencing rapid technological advancement.

The primary objective of the SIFER doctoral course is to offer students with an introduction to how stable isotopes are used in forest ecosystem research. The conferences will provide an overview of the main stable isotopes for the carbon, nitrogen and water used in forest ecosystem research, the fractionation processes that affect the distribution of isotopes in different ecosystem compartments, and the use of isotopes (tracers and natural abundance) for modeling different spatial and temporal scales. Questions relating to instrumentation, technological choices and the quality of the measurements will also be addressed. Practical applications and digital exercises will be conducted throughout the week in small groups of students who will have the use of equipment belonging to the functional ecology technical platform.

SIFER is open to all PhD students worldwide currently working on stable isotopes and is not exclusive to studies focused on trees and forests. All courses will be held in English.

For more information, visit the SIFER homepage — SIFER 2016

On Thursday, January 28, SURVIVORS project team members met on-site with middle-school students at the Collège d’Einville au Jars.

SURVIVORS, a participatory research project :

Two years ago, 80 middle-school students at the collège d’Einville au Jars began their “Survivors” adventure : an original participatory research project was launched by a team of INRA researchers (the Joint Research Unit for Forest Ecology and Ecophysiology – UMR EEF) with support from LabEx ARBRE and the Nancy-Champenoux Center for Environmental Initiatives (CPIE). Accompanied by their teachers and researchers, these students actively participated in an experiment conducted in a Champenoux nursery aimed at understanding how young beech trees survive when faced with significant changes in their water-carbon-nitrogen functioning. To do this, each student became a sponsor for their own beech tree which they carefully defoliated (up to 75%) by following precise experimentation protocol.

Prior to their visit in January, the researchers provided the students, currently in their 3rd class, growth data of the beech trees that they had each sponsored. Each student had calculated the growth in diameter and height, the surface and the number of leaves on their trees which had been subjected to defoliation. Each of the three classes built models of allometric relationships with all of the sponsored trees. In class this last Thursday the project team tested the college students on their appropriation of the scientific approach. The researchers then presented other sets of results and discussed them with the students drawing specific attention to related mathematical concepts. The students completed a questionnaire in their research notebooks and will continue their analysis with their life Sciences teachers. The next meeting between these budding scientists and project researchers is set to take place in Champenoux, late May 2016.

LabEx ARBRE project leaders recently submitted their key results and future research perspectives.

Follow this link for the full list of projects — 2015 Key results and project highlights 

Jérôme Salse
Friday, 26 February
13h30 — Main conference room, INRA Champenoux

30 May – 2 June 2016
Palais des Congrès
Arachon, France

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INRA is organizing a two-day international conference on the theme Genomics and Forest Tree Genetics. Researchers are invited to  present and discuss new scientific findings in the area of population, quantitative and evolutionary genetics and how they can be applied to genetic resource conservation and breeding. Participants are invited to submit contributions from empirical, experimental and theoretical works which address leading scientific and applied issues.

A decade after the first forest tree whole-genome sequencing was released and published (for the black cottonwood in 2006), rapidly advancing sequencing technology in ‘omics’ (which permits scientists to study populations without sacrificing the ability to analyze any individual component) and bioinformatics (the science of collecting and analyzing complex biological data such as genetic codes) have significantly improved our understanding on several fronts: (i) tree growth and development, (ii) the response of trees to intrinsic and extrinsic factors, the remarkable capacity buffering capacity of trees enabling them to cope with chronic stresses and extreme events, and (iii) the molecular basis of genetic variation within and between species, and how variation has been shaped by evolutionary forces and how that relates to phenotypic variation and adaptation.

Genomics is sure to play a major role in upcoming decades by furthering our understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in the evolution and adaptation of these organisms, and contributing to developing and implementing innovations in management and policy actions aimed at preserving the adaptability of natural forests and intensively managed plantations. Knowledge acquired through the use of ‘omics’ technologies holds tremendous potential and could significantly impact how we help forests adapt to major future challenges (e.g. increases in wood demand, pressure to conserve forested areas, climate changes and associated threats).

For more information —

• Program and registration  : Genomics and Forest Tree Genetics Conference
• IUFRO
  

Joël Hamada is a PhD student working with two ARBRE labs, the Research Unit for the Study and Research of Wood Materials (LERMAB) at the University of Lorraine, and the Joint Research Unit for Forest and Wood Resource Studies (LERFOB). He is currently participating in the EVAQBT2 project. The topic of his research is “Effects of the natural variability of wood on the reactions of thermo-degradation involved in the heat treatment of wood in order to better control the process and the quality of the material obtained”.

Joël talked with us recently about his personal path as a researcher, where and when his interest in forest sciences began, and what brought him to study thermal wood treatment. Interestingly, Joël has the advantage of having worked in the forest products sector, which brings valuable perspective to his research. He is also fluent in Italian.

Follow this link to read the full interview.
ARBRE Interview — Joël Hamada

Pre-existing forests as sources of pathogens? The emergence of Armillaria ostoyae in a recently planted pine forest

To meet increasing demand for wood around the world, land dedicated to forest plantations are on the rise. These new plantings, usually carried out over large areas, use a single tree species, and sometimes single tree clones. Such highly homogeneous ecosystems, from an ecological and genetic point of view, have proved to be more vulnerable and particularly susceptible to attack by a number of bio-aggressors, both endemic and introduced (bacteria, fungi, insects, nematodes, etc.). In a publication published on December 1, 2015 in Forest Ecology and Management, researchers at INRA Bordeaux-Aquitaine (UMR BIOGECO) and INRA Nancy-Lorraine (UMR EEF and IAM), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (Department of the Forest Health), describe how they used maps from the 18th century to highlight the role formerly forested areas play as sources of disease, specifically in maritime-pine plantations in the Landes forest in France planted at the end of the 19th century, the largest maritime-mine forest in Europe.

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For more information ..

Read the INRA press release (in French)
Read the abstract on Science Direct 

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In Bogor, Indonesia on September 15 of this year, a new project was launched within the BIO-Asia 2015 framework. Supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (MAEDI) and by LabEx ARBRE, this project entitled “Extraction, characterization and exploitation of bio-molecules from Asian wood sector by-products”, brings together partners across Asia including the Department of Forestry Products at Bogor Agricultural University in Indonesia (IPB), the Forest Biotechnology Laboratory at the University Putra in Malaysia (UPM), and the joint research unit UMR 241 EOI at the University of French Polynesia. Two key partners from the Lorraine region are the Joint Research Unit for Tress/Microorganism Interactions (UMR 1136 – IAM) and as project lead, the Research Unit for the Study and Research of Wood Materials (EA 4370 – LERMAB).

BIO-Asia is a regional program and a French initiative directed at Asia aimed at strengthening high-level scientific collaboration and developing a research network for French and regional academic communities in the fields of biodiversity and biotechnology studies, ranging from the study of natural substances to their applications in agronomy, forestry, health, etc.