Genetic bases of microgeographic adaptation in European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and modelling of its evolutionary response to environmental gradient and climate change

Andrea has studied how molecular adaptation unfolded in beech populations on Mont ventoux, southern France, European Union.

Having shown that genetic change occurred fast, while the forest expanded downhill from its minimum extent at the end of the Nineteenth century (Modica et al. 2024), he moved to study the genetic bases of a trait, budburst, that had been proven to be under divergent selection in the same stands by Gaüzère et al. (2020). 
He found multiple genomic loci controlling the trait in a GWAS analysis based on wild populations, and a preliminary genomic prediction approach allowed him to predict that countergradient geographical trends in individual breeding values mimic observations of trait values in common gardens, as assessed by Gaüzère et al. (2020), with earlier predicted budburst in higher-elevation stands.

Check out the thesis itself (in English)