Antoine KREMER

Scientist Emeritus, INRA Bordeaux.

Antoine Kremer is Scientist Emeritus at INRA Bordeaux (France). He is co-director of the cluster of excellence COTE. He received his phD in quantitative genetics and habilitation degree in population genetics at the University of Paris (Orsay). His research deals with the evolution of genetic diversity and differentiation between natural tree populations, at various hierarchical levels where diversity is expressed (from genes to phenotypic traits). Antoine Kremer initiated Europe-wide forestry research as early as the 1980s based on population genetics and evolutionary biology. His research has focused on the evolution of oaks across Europe, investigated by complementary approaches  including  paleobotany,  population genetics and computer simulations. His current interest addresses future evolution in the context of environmental changes. Antoine Kremer is a member of many national and international initiatives, boards and organizations. He was a Coordinator of IUFRO Working Group S2-02-22 (1986-1990), Director of the French Institute for Biodiversity (2000-2001), on the SAB for European Forest Institute (2005-2009), on the SAB Genome Canada-Quebec (2012-2016). He coordinated  successive EU funded collaborative research projects since the mid 80s. He was on the Editorial Board of Annals of Forest Science, Forest Genetics, Tree Genetics and Genomes and Conservation Genetics.  He has authored and co-authored more than 350 scientific papers, chapters of books and project reports. Antoine Kremer has received  Scientific Achievement Award by IUFRO (1995), European Forest Research Award from FEFR (2003), Marcus Wallenberg Prize (2006), Knight of the “Legion of Honor” (2007), Member of the French Academy of Agriculture (2009), INRA Research Award (2011), and Honoris Causa Doctorate from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (2016).

> Another brick “against” the wall: migration as an evolutionary rescue

Evolutionary history tells that any species during its lifetime had to migrate to avoid disappearance as a result of an environmental crisis. Present and future history suggests  that migration will again be an evolutionary rescue for a great number of species. I will illustrate how migration and dispersion facilitated the maintenance of trees and their evolutionary success on the planet, by using European oaks as a study case. Oak species have developed peculiar expansion/retraction mechanisms to cope with repeated climatic oscillations. I will recall how these mechanisms are triggered by ongoing climate change and will ultimately contribute to their sustainability. These views will be extended to a broader scale showing how human mediated migration might enhance adaptation at contemporary times.