Testing scenarios for assisted migration of forest trees in Europe

International audienceOne approach to compensating for rapid climate change and protecting biodiversity is assisted migration (AM) of key tree species. However, tools for evaluating the sensitivity of target sites and identifying potential sources have not yet been developed. We used the National Forest Inventories of Spain and France to design scenarios for AM between and within both countries. We characterized sensitivity to climate change as the expected changes in volume and mortality of Pinus halepensis Miller and Pinus pinaster Aiton between the present and 2050. Target zones were selected from provenances with high sensitivity and seed zones from provenances with low sensitivity to climate change; the latter can be considered “seed refugia” as the climate changes. Three plausible scenarios for translocation to the target zone were developed on the basis of volume simulations calibrated with different planting strategies: (1) seeds only from foreign provenances; (2) foreign provenances plus local seeds; and (3) only local seeds. The results for both species show that models based on foreign “top-three” provenances always increased the standing volume of the target zone. Models run with only local seeds predicted increased volume for P. halepensis but not for P. pinaster. Our results suggest that volume and mortality trends are not always correlated with seed sources and targets, that projected provenances mortality do not follow always a southern–northern pattern and that seed refugia, if any, may be useful for compensating for the effects of climate change only in a subset of provenances. © 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrech

Data from: Ecological co-associations influence species’ responses to past climatic change: an example from a Sonoran Desert bark beetle

Ecologically interacting species may have phylogeographic histories that are shaped both by features of their abiotic landscape, and by biotic constraints imposed by their co-association. The Baja California peninsula provides an excellent opportunity to examine the influence of abiotic vs. biotic factors on patterns of diversity in plant-insect species. This is because past climatic and geological changes impacted the genetic structure of plants quite differently to that of co-distributed free-living animals (e.g., herpetofauna and small mammals). Thus, ‘plant-like’ patterns should be discernible in host-specific insect herbivores. Here we investigate the population history of a monophagous bark beetle, Araptus attenuatus, and consider drivers of phylogeographic patterns in light of previous work on its host plant, Euphorbia lomelii. Based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers, we found that the evolutionary history of A. attenuatus exhibits similarities to host plant that are attributable to both biotic and abiotic processes. Southward range expansion and recent colonization of continental Sonora peninsula appear to be unique to this taxon pair, and likely reflect influences of the host plant. On the other hand, abiotic factors with landscape-level influences on suites of co-distributed taxa, such as Plio- and Pleistocene-aged marine incursions in the region, also left genetic signatures in beetle populations. Superimposed on these similarities, bark beetle-specific patterns and processes were also evident. Taken together, this work illustrates that the evolutionary history of species-specific insect herbivores may represent a mosaic of influences, including—but not limited to—those imposed by the host plant

Garrick_et_al_MolEcol_DRYAD

Garrick_et_al_MolEcol_DRYA

Raster file used for ecological niche modeling

Raster files used for ecological niche modeling File 1: 'araptus.curr.asc' Timescale: Present-day, class: RasterLaye, dimensions: 960, 720, 691200 (nrow, ncol, ncell), resolution: 0.008333, 0.008333 (x, y), extentL-115, -109.0002, 22, 29.99968 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax). File 2: 'araptus.lgm.asc' Timescale: Last Glacial Maximum, class: RasterLayer, dimensions: 960, 720, 691200 (nrow, ncol, ncell), resolution: 0.008333, 0.008333 (x, y), extent: -115, -109.0002, 22, 29.99968 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax

Product differentiation and entry barriers: Mediterranean export firms in the American markets for olive oil prior to World War II

This article analyses the entry process of Mediterranean export firms in the American markets for packaged olive oil between the 1880s and the 1930s. It explores whether those entry barriers traditionally identified by the literature emerged and to what extent they influenced such an entry process. Using trade data for the early 1930s, the article shows higher average levels of exporters' concentration in the Americas than elsewhere. It also documents that by around 1930 most of the Mediterranean firms leading packaged olive oil exports to Argentina and the USA had entered the markets on the other side of the Atlantic before World War I. Finally, it identifies product differentiation as a source of entry barrier in markets for packaged olive oil in the early 1930s. The article suggests that as the American markets for this product matured early-entrant advantages associated with the use of modern marketing became more apparent, which probably raised the cost of entry to new Mediterranean export firms during the inter-war period.olive oil, international trade, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Mediterranean, Americas, brands, marketing, product differentiation, entry barriers, early-movers advantages, industrial organisation, economic history, international business history,