The GIS Group Maritime Pine of the Future (GIS GPMF) is a scientific interest group created in 1995 that brings together various stakeholders in research, development and management for public and private forests: INRAE, FCBA, ONF, CPFA, CNPF. The Group’s aim is to help to adapt the production system in maritime pine ecosystems to new economic and environmental contexts. By producing and promoting knowledge on maritime pine genetic resources, ecosystem functioning and the effect of silvicultural practices, GPMF proposes improved varieties and disseminates recommendations on silvicultural trajectories for professionals in the sector. To achieve this objective, GPMF installs and monitors networks of experimental sites with three main focus topics. In genetics, the GPMF carries out multi-site progeny tests on single-tree plots (polycross, single or double pair mating) and tests to compare specific materials in large plots (provenances from the natural area of maritime pine, inter-provenance hybrid progeny, improved and unimproved materials, full sib families). In silviculture, the GPMF has three main sub-networks to test hypotheses in real conditions in order to quantify and compare the effects of different practices: pre-installation tillage, fertility description and management, and density control in relation to the plant material used. A fourth sub-network consists of demonstration experimental sites. For biotic and abiotic risks, the GPMF includes pathogens and pests, and hazards associated with climate change (drought, wind storms). In just over 25 years, the GPMF has installed more than 130 experimental sites, mainly in the Landes de Gascogne Massif, but also near the coldest margins of the maritime pine’s range (Centre-Val de Loire, Pays de la Loire, Brittany) and in drier climatic zones (Mediterranean zone, Spain, Portugal). The GPMF, by nature, supports multidisciplinary research on three themes: genetics, forestry and risks. Their genetic experiments, for instance, make it possible to analyse changes in selected or unselected diversity over several generations, and provide a material of choice for genomic studies on maritime pine. Their studies of silviculture systems provided the first ecological descriptors to determine site potential, advised owners on phosphate fertilisation and proposed a range of scenarios to renew the Landes forest after the 2009 storm. To help deal with risks, the network is experimenting with silvicultural methods to control the propagation of Fomes over the long term.
CPFA
visit of experimental trials
tree breeding, forest management alternatives, hazard, risks, planted forest,
Pinus pinaster