EVOLTREE stands for EVOLution of TREEs as drivers of terrestrial biodiversity. It is a network of excellence that was launched in April 2006 and financially supported by the European Union within the 6th framework programme. Since the 1st January 2011, the network has been extended under the umbrella of the European Forest Institute’s (EFI) network. The overall goal of the Network is to link four major disciplines (Ecology, Genetics, Genomics and Evolution) to address global issues that European forests are currently facing as environmental changes, erosion of biodiversity. The new consortium is now made up of 23 research groups in 13 European countries.
Metagenomics of the Tree Microbiome
Taking place at the IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Conference 2015 in Florence, Italy, on 10th June 2015, with two invited speakers:
- Dr. Christopher W. Schadt (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA), presenting: Understanding the Populus Microbiome: Drivers of Community Variation and Potential Implications for Plant and Ecosystem Function.
- Dr. Anna-Maria Pirttilä (University of Oulu, Finland), presenting: Endophytic bacterial microbiome of mountain birch recovered from moth herbivory.
We are looking for voluntary speakers to take part in this workshop.
The network activities are the core activities for which the EVOLTREE network will secure the maintenance by finding internal resources, regardless of the availability of external funding. It has been agreed to concentrate on the following five tasks:
- e-Resources (EVOLTREE portal and eLab)
- Infrastructure (repository centre, intensicve study sites and genotyping/sequencing systems)
- Training (summer schools and mobility)
- Dissemination (PA material, external newsletter, etc)
- Coordination of activities