LEFEVRE François

Email : francois.lefevre.2(at)inrae.fr

Tél. : +33 (0)4 32 72 29 01

Scientific articles

All publications           

On-line presentations  (~15 – 30mn)

Trees have a large genetic diversity between species, between stands across species’ distribution range and also between individual trees within each forest.

Tree genetic diversity is a resource for forests and humans : it has an effect on the diversity of associated organisms (fauna, flora andt micro-organisms), it determines forests’ functions, adaptation and resilience to climate change, and thus conditions the diverse types of relation between humans and forests.

Tree genetic diversity is continuously evolving and natural evolutionary processes are impacted by the combined effect of climate change and human interventions (silviculture, planning, seed transfer, conservation actions, etc.).

The concept of “forest genetic resources” carries all these dimensions, this could be qualified as a social-ecological concept.

• Will genetic diversity allow tree species to respond to the multiple effects of climate change ?
• Can forest adapt to such drastic and rapid changes ?
• What are the impats of management practices on natural evolutionary processes ?
• Can we imagine evolution-oriented forest management that simultaneously contribute to preserve genetic diversity as a reservoir of future options and speed-up adaptation ? 
• How can we rethink tree genetic diversity conservation in the context of sudden climate change ? is it only still possible ?
• Can we develop a genetic resources conservation ethic that confers agency to the conserved entities ?

To address these issues, I study short and mid-term combined effects of environmental changes and management practices on evolutionary processes in forest trees. Based on qualitative and quantitative knowledge of these impacts on micro-evolutionary processes, we elaborate forest genetic resources conservation strategies and forest management strategies by and for the genetic diversity of trees, in the context of global change.

More broadly, I integrate my personal expertise in life sciences into interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary approaches considering forests as social-ecological systems driven by the interplay of natural and anthropogenic processes.

This research leads to the development of tools and methods (conceptual frames, models, scenarios, indicators, varieties, etc.) for forest managers and land managers, supporting adaptive strategies to cope for uncertainties in the contex of change.

I am president of the national commission for the conservation on forest genetic resources (CRGF), national representative for France in the steering committee of the European forest genetic resources programme (EUFORGEN), I participate in the french network for forest adaptation to climate change (AFORCE), member of the french academy of agriculture (AAF).