Forest management aims to ensure ecological, economic and social functions of forests, i.e. maintain permanence and diversity of forest ecosystems, sustain yield, manage and preserve genetic resources.
This study was based on knowledge and available models regarding gene flow or forest dynamics.
A general demogenetic model has been achieved taking into account reproduction processes (seed and pollen production and dispersal), regeneration/recruitment, tree growth, competition, and mortality.
Then this model was embedded in the simulation platform Capsis as well as the relationships available for five contrasted forest situations (in temperate or tropical forests, pure evenaged or mixed unevenaged stands, steady situations or forests drawn in a colonization process, social or scattered species, indigenous or introduced, with various biological and ecological traits); genetic functions are pooled within a new library called “Genetics” dedicated to genetic attributes and processes (meiosis, fertilization); the software is modular, open and easy to get for researchers and users.
Then, simulations were performed for the five forest situations of interest with two purposes in mind: (i) to detect the most sensitive components in the demogenetic model and the processes that should be investigated further, (ii) to compare various forest management scenarios and to initiate indicators of their effects on genetic resources.
Simulation has shown a high sensitiveness to dispersal, fructification and survival (especially at the seedling age) giving indications about key improvement to be achieved in the models. Major objectives in the short term are (i) to incorporate knowledge about allele effects (the software is already set for this), (ii) to improve initial diagnosis (genetic diversity, stand structure) of real situations before simulation.
Dreyfus Ph., Pichot C., de Coligny F., Gourlet-Fleury S., Cornu G., Jésel S., Dessard H., Oddou-Muratorio S., Gerber S., Caron H., Latouche-Hallé C., Lefèvre F., Courbet F., Seynave I., 2005. Couplage de modèles de flux de gènes et de modèles de dynamique forestière. Un dialogue pour la diversité génétique - Actes du 5ème colloque national BRG, Lyon, 3-5 novembre 2004 - Les Actes du BRG n°5, ISBN 2-908447-33-9, 231-250. download