OptFORESTS co-sponsored the IUFRO Workshop on Forest Genetic Common Gardens, held at INIA-CSIC in Madrid from 27 to 29 November 2024. The workshop was organised by IUFRO WG 2.02.13 (Breeding and genetic resources of Mediterranean conifers) in collaboration with IUFRO RG 2.04.00 (Genetics) and WP 2.04.02 (Breeding strategy and progeny evaluation). It was attended, either in person or online, by 114 participants from 24 countries across the globe.

Common garden networks are critical infrastructures that provide experimental data to address various aspects of provenance adaptation and breeding, with applications to the conservation and sustainable use of forest tree species under climate change.

The workshop explored the state-of-the-art and existing common garden networks, with discussions covering advanced experimental designs, the use of innovative high-throughput phenotyping and genotyping tools, and the potential for common gardens to inform ecological and evolutionary modelling, among other topics. Practical issues surrounding data management and infrastructure sharing were also addressed.

OptFORESTS was represented by its Coordinator, Santiago C. González-Martínez (INRAE), during the Opening Session. In addition, dedicated talks were delivered by the leaders of WP2 (Egbert Beuker, Luke) and WP3 (Marjana Westergren, GIS), who presented ongoing activities related to common gardens within the project. Egbert Beuker discussed the collection and harmonisation of common garden data currently underway in WP2, alongside the genomics, phenotyping, and modelling work associated with them. Marjana Westergren introduced the new network of multi-species genetic trials established as part of WP3.

Both presentations were well-received, stimulating lively discussions and exchanges with the large community of forest ecologists, geneticists, and tree breeders present at the workshop.