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Genetic diversity and conservation genetics

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How well animal and plant species can adapt to their environment depends on their genetic diversity. We research ecological processes in populations of fungi, plants and animals using genetic methods, and complement these with experimental studies.

How do Alpine plants adapt to changing environmental conditions? How do roads affect the dispersal and connectivity of populations? How does inbreeding affect rare species?

Answers to these questions can be found using genetic methods and experiments, for example experiments in the greenhouse, we investigate ecological processes in plant and animal populations and identify species based on their DNA (eDNA).

In our research, we focus on species which play an important role in the ecosystem or which are rare or endangered. Our findings form the basis for the planning and implementation of conservation and species protection measures, as well as for silviculture.

Topics

eDNA laboratory

In our eDNA laboratory, we isolate genetic material from environmental samples, for example to find hidden animals or fungi.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Contact

Prof. Dr. Rolf Holderegger

Head of Research Unit, Member of Directors Board

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

rolf.holderegger(at)wslto make life hard for spam bots.ch

+41 44 739 25 27+41 44 739 25 27

Birmensdorf

Dr. Felix Gugerli Künzle

Deputy Groupleader, Senior Scientist

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

Ecological Genetics

felix.gugerli(at)wslto make life hard for spam bots.ch

+41 44 739 25 90+41 44 739 25 90

Birmensdorf

PD Dr. Janine Bolliger

Scientific staff member

Land Change Science

Land-use systems

janine.bolliger(at)wslto make life hard for spam bots.ch

+41 44 739 23 93+41 44 739 23 93

Birmensdorf

Dr. Christian Rellstab

Scientific staff member

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

Ecological Genetics

christian.rellstab(at)wslto make life hard for spam bots.ch

+41 44 739 25 42+41 44 739 25 42

Birmensdorf

Prof. Dr. Christoph Scheidegger

Senior Scientist

Biodiversity and Conservation Biology

christoph.scheidegger(at)wslto make life hard for spam bots.ch

+41 44 739 24 39+41 44 739 24 39

Birmensdorf

Publications

Boch, S.; Saiz, H.; Allan, E.; Schall, P.; Prati, D.; Schulze, E.; Hessenmöller, D.; Sparrius, L.B.; Fischer, M., 2021: Direct and indirect effects of management intensity and environmental factors on the functional diversity of lichens in Central European Forests. Microorganisms, 9, 2: 463 (18 pp.). doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9020463

Schenker, L.; Bollmann, K.; Rehnus, M.; Brodbeck, S.; Gugerli, F., 2020: Hare's affairs: lessons learnt from a noninvasive genetic monitoring for tracking mountain hare individuals. Ecology and Evolution, 10, 18: 10150-10166. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6676

Rellstab, C.; Zoller, S.; Sailer, C.; Tedder, A.; Gugerli, F.; Shimizu, K.K.; Holderegger, R.; Widmer, A.; Fischer, M.C., 2020: Genomic signatures of convergent adaptation to Alpine environments in three Brassicaceae species. Molecular Ecology, 29, 22: 4350-4365. doi: 10.1111/mec.15648

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Projects

Harnessing forest genetic resources

OptFORESTS is an European funded project that aims to support the conservation and sustainable use of forest genetic resources.

SeedOpt – Genetischen Diversität der Samenernte

Mit molekulargenetischen Analysen in Samenerntebeständen der Traubeneiche wollen wir zeigen, wie sich die Ausführung der Samenernte (Anzahl beernteter Mutterbäume, räumliches Design) auf die genetische Diversität und Repräsentativität des Saatgutes auswirkt.

Forest Reserve Monitoring Lodano

WSL is participating in a forest reserve monitoring project for fungi in the canton of Ticino. In addition to traditional fruiting body surveys by the canton of Ticino, SwissFungi will survey fungal diversity using eDNA from spore traps in the forest reserve of Lodano (TI).

Fungal and lichen communities in white-backed woodpecker territories

Is the White-backed Woodpecker an umbrella species - i.e. a species whose protection ensures the survival of the entire species community? In order to answer this question, the lichen and fungal diversity in known territories of the White-backed Woodpecker will be determined in addition to deadwood insects and breeding birds.

MAGIC

In this bilateral LabEx-SwissForestLab project, we are investigating whether the main mutualistic partners of beech forests are adapted to their local habitat and if trees and fungi form a co-adaptation complex that could confer benefits for nutrient and water supply in adverse environments.

Grundlagen für die gebietsfremden Pilze der Schweiz

Im Rahmen dieses Langzeitprojektes sammeln wir Daten zu den gebietsfremden Pilze der Schweiz, beraten Bund und Kantone und erarbeiten Grundlagen für die Praxis.

GenDiB

Intraspecific genetic diversity is a component of biodiversity that is often overlooked. Therefore, GenDiB sets out to compile the basic principles for establishing a new database comprising data on genetic diversity in populations of wild species in Switzerland.

MULTIBEF: Effects of multiple-stressors on B-EF relationships at multiple scales

With the MULTIBEF project, we aim at taking a holistic view to the study of B-EF relationships, and to investigate climate-change effects on complex B-EF relationships. To this end, we will take advantage of particular freshwater ecosystems tightly linked to forests: water-filled tree holes!

European beech under climate change

We will conduct a continental-scale climate sensitivity analysis of European beech and will investigate how different beech provenances differ in their climate growth response

A range-wide transplant experiment using participatory science and genomic prediction

CYbER - CanopY Exploration Robots

In the CYbER (CanopY Exploration Robots) project we study the science and technology of new multi-modal robots for comprehensive canopy exploration.

Identifying seed sources for highly adaptable oak forests in a changing climate

The international BiodivERsA project ACORN aims to identify oak populations capable to cope with future drought-stress due to climate change.

Biodiversity policy evaluation

This project is motivated by the repeated statement of OECD that biodiversity policy is a weak point in Swiss environmental policy. We will use up-front text retrieval methods to evaluate implementation of biodiversity-related policies in Switzerland.

Drought & beech: Effects of the 2018 summer drought on beech on the northern side of the Alps

In this project, we investigate causes for the impacts of the extreme summer drought 2018 on the vitality of beech trees in different regions of the Swiss Plateau and Jura.

Difficulties in implementing biodiversity targets

What are the difficulties in implementing biodiversity and landscape objectives? An expert survey provides information.

Superstructures in turbulence

Large coherent vortices are easily distinguishable by human eye when looking at clouds in the sky or at the whirls of water in rivers and lakes. We develop coherent structure identification methods to detect these vortices and understand their role in mixing stratified flows in lakes and the ocean.

Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis) for assisted migration?

We assess the drought response of European and oriental across different life stages by taking advantage of existing Oriental beech plantations in France, Germany and Switzerland.

Past genetic diversity of Swiss mountain forests

Future climate change will have drastic effects on mountain forests. We will analyse ancient DNA preserved in natural archives to reconstruct the impact of past rapid climate change on the neutral and adaptive genetic diversity of trees.

OAKID2

Transferability and phylogenetic extension of species-diagnostic SNP markers in European white oak species

Forschungsprojekt Tamariske: Genetische Untersuchungen von Myricaria germanica

Das Forschungsprojekt untersucht die genetische Vernetzung entlang der Isel und ihrer Zubringer mithilfe von neutralen, genetischen Markern. Die Rolle von Zubringerflüssen für den Genaustausch wird untersucht.

Global Distribution Patterns of Plants

In this project we use historic climate, phylogeny, functional data and a processed based simulation model to explain how eco-evolutionary processes have led to the contemporary biodiversity patterns.

The Megafauna project

This projects uses a non-invasive environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding approach to assess the biodiversity of marine vertebrates in 200 sites to ultimately identify possible refugia for marine megafauna.

Chamois genetics

In this project, we will sample populations of R. rupicapra across the alpine massif and genotype them using RAD-sequencing. We will investigate the historical and contemporary factors shaping genetic variation within and among populations.

Molecular epidemiology of fungal invasions

In this project, we investigate the molecular epidemiology of invasive European populations of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica.

Conserving the flora on erratic blocks

Erratic blocks form small siliceous habitats in the calcareous Swiss lowlands and Jura mountains, harbour special bryophytes and ferns and are endangered by bouldering and shading. The project creates the scientific basis for their conservation.

Tool kit conservation genetics

Partners from the private and academic sector joined to set up a ready-to-use tool kit, which allows authorities and consultancies to apply conservation genetic methods in a standardized way in their everyday work.

Metalink

Soil contamination with heavy metals is a widespread problem affecting natural, cultivated, urban and industrial sites throughout Europe. The main objective in this Swiss/Polish collaboration project is to characterize the links between environmental, genotypic, and phenotypic features in the metal-tolerant plant model Arabidopsis halleri.

GenTree

GenTree aims at providing the European forestry sector with better knowledge, methods and tools for optimizing the management and sustainable use of forest genetic resources in Europe in the context of climate change and continuously evolving demands for forest products and services.

PiCadapt - Adaptive genetic variation of Swiss stone pine in response to environmental gradients across the Alpine timberline ecotone

PiCadapt aims to study gene-encoded nucleotide variation in the bird-dispersed P. cembra, a keystone tree species of the Alpine timberline ecotone, in response to environmental gradients.

GeneScale

GeneScale describes genomic variation in the Alpine rock-cress (Arabis alpina) and seeks indications of local adaptation to small-scale environmental conditions.

Population ecology of the mountain hare

We study the distribution, abundance and dynamics of a mountain hare population in a strictly protected Alpine ecosystem with annual field surveys and non-invasive genetic methods.

Structural Diversity and Forest Biodiversity

What is the importance of the structural diversity and composition of forest stands for a rich forest biodiversity? This is the key question at the centre of this study.

QuercAdapt

We investigate the relationship between genetic variation and environmental factors, notably soil characteristics, in three native oak species. Thereby we can investigate the adaptedness of the different species and provenances in the context of silvicultural practice under climate change.

Ash dieback

The ascomycetous fungus Chalara fraxinea is a new invasive pathogen causing severe ash dieback thus threatening the existence of Fraxinus spp. in Europe. Our main aim is to characterize epidemic (Swiss) and post-epidemic (Lithuanian) populations of the ash dieback pathogen C. fraxinea.

Disentangling truffle ecology

We study the complex biotic and abiotic ecology and the population genetics of the Burgundy truffle (Tuber aestivum) in Switzerland and the German pre-Alps, with particular emphasis on the ecological and climatological drivers for the productivity and phenology of this most valuable truffle species.

chestnut blight

The introduced chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica causes severe damage to chestnut forests and orchards across Europe. We investigate the biology and epidemiology of the disease and provide the scientific basis for biological control.

Phytophthora genetics

Within the cosmopolitan plant pathogenic species Phytophthora citricola, high levels of morphological and molecular variation were previously observed. Recently, DNA analyses revealed that the P. citricola complex actually includes four species, namely P. multivora, P. plurivora, P. citricola I, and P. citricola sensu strictu, which show different geographic distributions and host ranges.

Revision of the Red List of fern and vascular plants

The accessory study of the revision of the red list of fern and vascular plants aims to evaluate the practicability of using statistical methods as a tool for revisions and quality control of red lists.

Climate change and forest birds

In this study, we assess the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the realised ecological niches of habitat specialists of mountain forests by assessing key structural and vegetational habitat components along a climatic gradient.

AVE

The main aim of this SNF-supported SINERGIA project is to characterize adaptive genetic diversity associated with environmental heterogeneity in natural populations of related plant species and to experimentally test the adaptive value of candidate loci under ecologically relevant environmental conditions

Gene flow in Swiss stone pine

Stone pines depend on nutcrackers for seed dispersal to favorable microsites, while nutcrackers almost exclusively forage on the pines, caching their seeds for winter food reserves. Genetic parentage analysis on juvenile stone pines germinated from cached nuts, will elucidate how dispersal by nutcrackers affects the spatial genetic structure of future pine populations.

Evoltree

A large network of research institutions collaborates within an EC-funded Network of Excellence to study the impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems from an evolutionary perspective.

IntraBioDiv

Within an EC-funded project, scientists from WSL study possible correlations between intraspecific diversity and species richness or habitat variation. They want to find and explain possible relationships among different levels of plant biodiversity, to elaborate a modelling approach.

Population model for the capercaillie in the Swiss Alps

We are studying the metapopulation biology of Alpine capercaillie using a) traditional field methods, and b) landscape ecological, and c) population genetic approaches.

Tundra Experiment

Temperature in Arctic and alpine regions have increased more rapidly than in other regions. How do tundra ecosystems respond to that climate warming? The SLF is contributing to an international research network that studies at over 40 locations worldwide how cold adapted plants respond to warmer temperatures.

WATER

A network of four research institutions collaborates within an EC-funded Network of Excellence to determine and understand the influence of genetic diversity of trees and site water regime on neutral and functional diversities of the associated mycorrhizal community.

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