The European Union project titled "ACORN- Identifying seed sources for highly adaptable oak forests in a changing climate", supported by TAGEM, in which Res. Asst. Dr. Funda Özdemir Değirmenci of the KAEU Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops is a researcher, was funded by BiodivERsA.
The Project, which aims to determine the oak populations that could cope with the drought stress, has many goals
The developed project aims to identify oak populations that could cope with future drought stress due to climate change. In general, the project aims to identify regional and continent-wide signs of drought adaptation in the oak genome, investigate the physiological and morphological characteristics related to drought tolerance, and address genetic backgrounds. Through the study, which also aims to reveal whether the transfer of forest reproduction material at regional and continental scales will increase the adaptation capacity of future forests, it is also desired to determine which transfer strategy is optimal to increase the benefits and reduce the risks of such transfers.
Oak Species were Sampled from Each Area, By Paying Attention to the Distinction between Humid and Arid Populations
Within the scope of the project, 8 population Quercus petraea and 10 population Q. pubescens oak species, consisting of at least 25 individuals, were sampled from each area where they existed, by paying attention to the distinction between moist and arid populations. The samples of Q. petraea subsp. pinnatiloba, which is an endemic species were taken from Hatay while the samples of Q. petraea species were taken from Ankara/Soguksu National Park, Kızılcahamam, Işık Mountain, Eğrekkaya, Kastmaonu. On the other hand, the samples of Q. pubescens species were taken from Ankara/Kurtbogazi, Kargasekmez, Kastamonu/Pelitoren, Kastamonu/Araç, Konya/Ilgın-Bulcuk, Konya/Ilgın-Ormanözü, Kızılcahamam/Belpinari, Kızılcahamam/Kasımlar, Kızılcahamam/Egrekkaya, Kızılcahamam/Oğlakci regions. DNA isolations of all individuals of the samples taken were completed and activity status has been investigated with different microsatellite markers for genetic characterization.
In the project, supported by TAGEM and funded by BiodivERsA, titled "ACORN- Identifying seed sources for highly adaptable oak forests in a changing climate" of KAEU Res. Asst. Dr. Funda Özdemir Değirmenci; Prof. Dr. Zeki Kaya, a faculty member of the Middle East Technical University Department of Biological Sciences takes place as the project coordinator, while Asst. Prof. Dr. Asya Uluğ from Kafkas University Biology Department and Res. Asst. Dr. Çiğdem Kansu from Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Biology Department take place as the researchers.