As part of the action plan for Switzerland's biodiversity strategy, phase 2 (AP-SBS II, 2025-2030), measure M1 aims to promote a biodiverse and resilient forest. To this end, the TreeGD project uses state-of-the-art genomic methods to quantify the genetic diversity and population structure of five native tree species and assess their adaptability to future environmental conditions.

The focus of the study is on genetic conservation units and rare tree species as well as one main tree species for comparison. In addition, the genetic diversity of seed collections of a rare tree species will be examined more closely to derive recommendations for seed production, which should contribute to the preservation of genetic diversity.

The results of the project help to

• to describe the genetic diversity and adaptability of native tree speciesassess the representativeness of genetic diversity of main and secondary tree species in genetic conservation units
• identify possible gaps in the existing network of genetic conservation units
• provide practical recommendations for the collection of seeds
• to identify suitable seed stands
• to promote rare tree species

TreeGD is being carried out jointly by WSL (Ecological Genetics Group) and ETH (Dendrology Group) on behalf of the FOEN (Biodiversity and Landscape Division) and will run from 2025-2030.