| Our project aims at promoting new
methods of biodiversity assessment which take into account both biological
evolution and the spatio-temporal dynamics of ecosystems reacting to
climate changes and disturbances.
The project is based on an association between
palaeobotanists working on natural fossil archives (lake sediments, peat
bogs, buried trunks) (six teams) and plant geneticists (six teams). The
past biodiversity of forest tree species will be explored by using fossil
material taken from a network of sites covering western Europe. The
potential for recovering and studying ancient DNA (aDNA) in plant remains
will be systematically explored. Molecular markers will be developed to
assist in the taxonomic identification of fossil remains. Further, for
some key tree taxa, all of major economical importance, a comparison of
the pattern of past intraspecific diversity with the present day pattern
will help understand the origin of our modern forests and their rate of
disturbance. Progresses in such an innovative project can only be achieved
through a strong interdisciplinary approach.
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