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C1 - Coordination of the Research Unit
Lars Opgenoorth, Julia Völker
Surprisingly fundamental research questions remain unanswered that could vastly change the management trajectories, namely, (i) how resistant and resilient are native tree species to drought events and heat waves, and (ii) how quickly can populations acclimate or adapt to the rapid and drastic
environmental changes we are currently experiencing. While the research community has invested heavily in the last decade to answer those question with a broad range of methods ranging among other from dendroecology18-20, via population genomics to modeling a perspective on how the microbiome influences acclimation and adaption processes of forest trees has been largely neglected despite the fact, that from various other research fields it becomes
clear, that organisms have to be considered as holobionts. The overarching goal of the project thus is to understand processes of acclimation and adaptation
(from now on referred to as A&A – see Boxes I and II) of trees from a holobiont perspective. We therefore ask the following fundamental questions: (i) how do holobiont partners influence the potential for A&A of the host trees to environmental change and (ii) how does that impact the potential for resistance, resilience and recovery of the holobiont to stress events. To answer these questions, we need to better understand the phenotypic plasticity of the native forest trees, the interplay of trees with their holobiont partners, and how these interactions may facilitate A&A to abiotic (i.e. drought) and biotic stressors (i.e. above- and below-ground herbivory).
The central coordination encompasses the scientific coordination among subprojects including exchange and analysis of research data and the facilitation of the synthesis process, the establishment and maintenance of network-based communications, coordination of the central research platforms with the support of the local PostDocs, setup of a central database for storage and data exchange, and the management of the central funds of the RU. The C1-PostDoc
will be responsible for (i) the Project Synthesis process and (ii) the Data Management and Technical Coordination aspects of the project, to each of which the
PostDoc will allocate ~50% of his/her working time. Thus, C1 will be crucial in leading the synthesis process with the goal of integrating the complementary approaches to help develop a comprehensive holobiont-based understanding of A&A in oak.
C1 also promotes regular scientific exchange with the monthly PhytOakmeter Science Talk, where research approaches and results are being presented and discussed via video-conferencing. This allows to work on cross-cutting topics already at the early stages of the research unit. In addition, an annual project meeting with workshop character will be organized to intensify the collaborative analyses and synthesis. Finally, the C1-PostDoc will be responsible to oversee the technical implementation of the Experimental Platforms.
