Short biography of Bruno Fady, Doctor of Science, Research Director at the French National Institute for Agricultural, Food and Environmental Research (INRAE), Research Unit "Ecology of Mediterranean Forests" (URFM), Avignon, France.
Professional address: INRAE-URFM, Domaine St Paul, 84914 Avignon, France
Phone: +33 (0)4 3272 29 08
Mobile: +33 (0)6 1594 3392
E-mail: bruno.fady@inrae.fr
Web: https://ecologie-des-forets-mediterraneennes.paca.hub.inrae.fr/
Portrait : https://www.inrae.fr/actualites/bruno-fady
Bruno Fady is a population geneticist with initial training in ecology and 35 years of experience in Mediterranean forest ecosystems. After obtaining a bachelor's of science degree in cellular biology from the Pierre and Marie Curie University of Paris in 1982, he went on to study ecology and genetics. He obtained his doctorate in ecology from Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille University in 1990. Recruited by INRAE in 1992, he has since worked in many areas of forest genetics and ecology, ranging from genetic improvement to the conservation of rare and endangered species. His research has resulted in more than 300 communications at conferences and in books, book chapters and articles in international scientific and professional journals. Bruno Fady's current research activities focus on the study of within species diversity in Mediterranean forest trees and populations in ecologically marginal habitats. More specifically, and with a view to conserving biodiversity, he is interested in how genetic and phenotypic diversity is structured at different biogeographical scales and under the influence of natural or human-induced constraints.
Deputy Director of the INRAE research group ‘Ecology of Mediterranean Forests’ (URFM) in Avignon, France, between 2014 and 2022, he became its Director in 2023. He coordinated the European H2020 GenTree project (http://www.gentree-h2020.eu/) between 2016 and 2020, which focused on the conservation and sustainable management of the genetic diversity of forest trees in Europe.
Bruno Fady is involved in numerous activities at the interface between science, public policy, society and management. He has produced many articles and conferences aimed at the general public and at natural area managers in the field of forest biodiversity conservation. He is a member of the French programme for the conservation of forest genetic resources (CRGF,http://agriculture.gouv.fr/la-politique-nationale-de-conservation-des-ressources-genetiques-forestieres). He is a long-standing expert for the European Forest Genetic Resources Conservation Programme (EUFORGEN, http://www.euforgen.org/), an initiative of the ministerial conference on the protection of forests in Europe (FOREST EUROPE,https://foresteurope.org/). He contributed to the drafting of the European strategy on forest genetic resources in 2021 (https://www.euforgen.org/publications/publication/forest-genetic-resources-strategy-for-europe). He contributed to the publication of the FAO's State of the World's Forest Genetic Resources in 2013 and 2024 (https://www.fao.org/forest-genetic-resources/assessments/en/). He coordinated the chapter on genetic diversity and biodiversity in EFIMED's Mediterranean Forest Research Agenda 2030, the Mediterranean office of the European Forest Institute (https://efi.int/efimed/mfra-2030).
Some recent publications
1- Rouet C., Davi H., Druel A., Fady B., Morin X., 2025. PDG-Arena: An ecophysiological model for characterizing tree-tree interactions in heterogeneous and mixed stands. Annals of Forest Science 82, 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13595-025-01277-8. https://hal.science/hal-04973308.
2- Fady B., Scotti-Saintagne C., 2025. Why conserve genetic diversity? A perspective based on a case study with a European conifer. Annals of Botany, mcaf041.https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaf041.
2024
3- Mezni F., Roig A., Scotti-Saintagne C., Hamrouni L., Fady B., Khaldi A., 2024. Genetic diversity and population structuring of Pistacia lentiscus L. across Mediterranean region. Annals of Forest Research 67(1), 19-30. (https://doi.org/10.15287/afr.2024.2573).https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04665807v1.
4- Milesi P., Kastally C., Dauphin B., Cervantes S., Bagnoli F., Budde K.B., Cavers S., Fady B., Faivre-Rampant P., González-Martínez S.C., Grivet D., Gugerli F., Jorge V., Lesur-Kupin I., Ojeda D.I., Olsson S., Opgenoorth L., Pinosio S., Plomion C., Rellstab C., Rogier O., Scalabrin S., Scotti I, Vendramin G.G., Westergren M., GenTree Consortium, Lascoux M., Pyhäjärvi T., 2024. Resilience of genetic diversity in forest trees over the Quaternary. Nature Communications 15, 8538. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52612-y. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04746980v1.
5- Scotti-Saintagne C., de Sousa Rodrigues A., Roig A., Fady B., 2024. A comprehensive strategy for the conservation of forest tree genetic diversity: an example with the protected Pinus nigra subsp. salzmannii (Dunal) Franco in France. Conservation Genetics 25, 469–480 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-023-01581-8). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04301676.
2023
6- Cheikh Albassatneh M.C., Dubuisson J.Y., Escudero M., Fady B., Ponger L., Muller S., 2023. Effect of environmental and spatial factors on the phylogenetic and functional diversity of the Mediterranean tree communities of Europe. Plant Biology 25, 631-645. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.13525. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04102431v1.
7- James J., Kastally C., Budde K.B., González-Martínez S.C., Milesi P., Pyhäjärvi P., Lascoux M., GenTree Consortium, 2023. Between but Not Within-Species Variation in the Distribution of Fitness Effects. Molecular Biology and Evolution 40(11), msad228.https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msad228. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04598142v1.
8- Jean F., Davi H., Oddou-Muratorio S., Fady B., Scotti I., Scotti-Saintagne C., Ruffault J., Journé V., Clastre P., Marloie O., Brunetto W., Correard M., Gilg O., Pringarbe M., Rei F., Thevenet J., Turion N., Pichot C., 2023. A 14-year series of leaf phenological data collected for European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) from their geographic range margins in south-eastern France. Annals of Forest Science, 80(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13595-023-01193-9. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04230363v1.
9- Olsson S., Dauphin B., Jorge V., Grivet D., Farsakoglou A. M., Climent J., Alizoti P., Faivre-Rampant P., Pinosio S., Milesi P., Scalabrin S., Bagnoli F., Scotti I., Vendramin G. G., Gonzalez-Martinez S. C., Fady B., Aravanopoulus F., Bastien C., Alia R., 2023. Diversity and enrichment of breeding material for resilience in European forests. Forest Ecology and Management 530, 120748 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120748). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04118477v1.
10- Rihm G., Fady B., 2023. Caractériser l’enveloppe climatique future des jardins communs forestiers : une approche essentielle pour mieux raisonner l’adaptation des essences. Revue Forestière Française 74(4), 495-506 (https://doi.org/10.20870/revforfr.2023.7900).https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04343910.
11- Romero B., Scotti I., Fady B., Ganteaume A., 2023. Fire frequency, as well as stress response and developmental gene control serotiny level variation in a widespread pioneer Mediterranean conifer, Pinus halepensis. Ecology and Evolution 13, e9919 (https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9919). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04040337v1.
12- Scotti I., Lalagüe H., Oddou-Muratorio S., Scotti-Saintagne C., Ruiz Daniels R., Grivet D., Lefevre F., Cubry P., Fady B., González-Martínez S.C., Roig A., Lesur-Kupin I., Bagnoli F., Guerin V., Plomion C., Rozenberg P., Vendramin G.G., 2023. Common microgeographical selection patterns revealed in four European conifers. Molecular Ecology 32, 393–411 (https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16750). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04060643.
2022
13- Aurelle D., Thomas S., Albert C., Bally M., Bondeau A., Boudouresque C.F., Cahill A.E., Carlotti F., Chenuil A., Cramer W., Davi H., De Jode A., Ereskovsky A., Farnet A.M., Fernandez C., Gauquelin T., Mirleau P., Monnet A.C., Prévosto B., Rossi V., Sartoretto S., Van Wambeke F., Fady B., 2022. Biodiversity, climate change, and adaptation in the Mediterranean. Ecosphere 13(4), e3915 (https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3915). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03670020v1.
14- Ducatillion C., Lamant T., Bellanger R., Bouttier V., Bastien J.C., Michotey C., Gautier L., Fady B., Musch B., 2022. Survival and growth of 711 forest tree taxa in eight French arboretums from three different climate regions. Annals of Silvicultural Research 47, 30-38 (http://dx.doi.org/10.12899/asr-2325). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03858907v1.
15- Fady B., Esposito E., Abulaila K. Aleksic J.M., Alia R., Alizoti P., Apostol E.N., Aravanopoulos F.A., Ballian D., Bou Dagher Kharrat, M., Carrasquinho I., Cheikh Albassatneh M., Curtu A.L., David-Schwartz R., de Dato G., Douaihy B., Eliades N.G., Fresta L., Gaouar S.B., Hachi Illoul M., Ivetic V., Ivankovic M., Kandemir G., Khaldi A., Khouja M.L., Kraigher H., Lefèvre F., Mahfoud I., Marchi M., Pérez Martín F., Picard N., Sabatti M., Sbay H., Scotti-Saintagne C., Stevens D.T., Vendramin G.G., Vinceti B., Westergren M., 2022. Forest genetics research in the Mediterranean Basin: bibliometric analysis, knowledge gaps and perspectives. Current Forestry Reports 8, 277–298 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40725-022-00169-8).https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03746104v1.
16- Fady B., Rihm G., 2022. Arboretums, common gardens and forest tree resilience. New Forests 53, 603–606 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-022-09908-y). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03669883v1.
17- Olsson S., Giovannelli G., Roig A., Spanu I., Vendramin G.G., Fady B., 2022. Chloroplast DNA barcoding genes matK and psbA-trnH are not suitable for species identification and phylogenetic analyses in closely related pines. iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry 15: 141-147 (https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor3913-015). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04047735v1.
18- Picard N., Marchi M., Serra-Varela M.J., Westergren M., Cavers S., Notivol E., Piotti A., Alizoti, P., Bozzano M., González-Martínez S.C., Grivet D., Aravanopoulos F.A., Vendramin G.G., Ducci F., Fady B., Alía R., 2022. Marginality indices for biodiversity conservation in forest trees. Ecological Indicators, 143, 109367 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109367).https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03847883v1.
2021
19- Benavides R., Carvalho B., Bastias CC., López‐Quiroga D., Mas A., Cavers S., ..., Fady B., Valladares F., 2021. The GenTree Leaf Collection: Inter‐ and intraspecific leaf variation in seven forest tree species in Europe. Global Ecology and Biogeography 30(3), 590-597 (https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13239). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03282266v1.
20- Cheikh Albassatneh M., Escudero M., Monnet A.C., Arroyo J., Bacchetta G., Bagnoli F., Dimopoulos P., Hampe A., Leriche A., Médail F., Nikolic T., Ponger L., Vendramin G.G., Fady B., 2021. Spatial patterns of genus‐level phylogenetic endemism in the tree flora of Mediterranean Europe. Diversity & Distributions 27(5), 913-928 (https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13241). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03135204v1.
21- Fady B., Bozzano M., 2021. Effective population size does not make a practical indicator of genetic diversity in forest trees. Biological Conservation 253, 108904 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108904). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03475376v1.
22- Fady B., Davi H., Martin-StPaul N., Ruffault J., 2021. Caution needed with the EU forest plantation strategy for offsetting carbon emissions. New Forests 52, 733–735 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-020-09830-1). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03475367v1.
23- Major E. I., Höhn M., Avanzi C., Fady B., Heer K., Opgenoorth L., ..., Csilléry K., 2021. Fine-scale spatial genetic structure across the species range reflects recent colonization of high elevation habitats in silver fir (Abies alba Mill.). Molecular Ecology 30, 5247-5265 (https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16107). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03482937v1.
24- Monnet AC., Cilleros K., Médail F., Cheick Albassatneh M., Arroyo J., Bacchetta G., Bagnoli F., Barina Z., Cartereau M., Casajus N., Dimopoulos P., Domina G., Doxa A., Escudero M., Fady B., Hampe A., Matevski V., Misfud S., Nikolic T., Pavon D., Roig A., Santos Barea E., Spanu I., Strid A., Vendramin G.G., Leriche A., 2021. WOODIV, a database of occurrences, functional traits, and phylogenetic data for all Euro-Mediterranean trees. Scientific Data 8, 89 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-021-00873-3). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03180026v1.
25- Opgenoorth L., Dauphin B., Benavides R., Heer K., Alizoti P., Martínez-Sancho E., ..., Fady B., Myking T., Valladares F., Aravanopoulos F.A., Cavers S., 2021. The GenTree Platform: growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species. GigaScience 10(3), giab010 (https://doi.org10.1093/gigascience/giab010). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03282821v1.
26- Petit-Cailleux C., Davi H., Lefèvre F., Verkerk P.J., Fady B., Lindner M., Oddou-Muratorio S., 2021. Tree mortality risks under climate change in Europe: assessment of silviculture practices and genetic conservation networks. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9, 582 (https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.706414). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03362511v1.
27- Scotti-Saintagne C., Boivin T., Suez M., Musch B., Scotti I., Fady B., 2021. Signature of mid-Pleistocene lineages in the European silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) at its geographic distribution margin. Ecology and Evolution, 11, 10984 - 10999 (https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7886). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03318278v1.
28- Serrano-León H., Ahtikoski A., Sonesson J., Fady B., Lindner M., Meredieu C., Raffin A., Perret S., Perot T., Orazio C., 2021. From genetic gain to economic gain: simulated growth and financial performance of genetically improved Pinus sylvestris and Pinus pinaster planted stands in France, Finland and Sweden. Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research, cpab004 (https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpab004). https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03351191v1.
