New strategy to make plants more resilient to climate change

The Yellow Box, which has the scientific name Eucalyptus melliodora, is an important tree species in a critically endangered woodland community that now occupies just eight per cent of its former distribution recorded in the mid 1700s. Researchers from ANU have developed a seed-collection strategy to help make trees or even food crops more resilient to future climate change. Their new research, published in the journal eLife , should lead to improved decisions around where seeds are sourced during reforestation efforts to ensure that newly planted trees are diverse enough that some could tolerate harsher climates. "Many species are facing rapid changes in their environments due to global climate change and other human disturbances," said Dr Megan Supple, who led the study at the ANU Research School of Biology. "Increased variation in a species' genetic material, known as its genome, may allow a species to better adapt to these changes." Dr Supple said people working on projects to restore native plant communities needed to decide which seeds to plant at a given reforestation site. "Genomic analyses can be used to identify source populations that are better adapted to the current and predicted climates at these sites," she said. "By selecting seeds with a high level of genomic diversity and adaptations to climate, the restored community will be more resilient to the changes they face in the future." Dr Supple and her team set out to discover if new genomic techniques could be used to help make scientifically informed decisions around seed sourcing for Yellow Box Eucalyptus trees.