Feedback by Marion Carme

Report on the summer school «Modelling assisted migration»

Marion CARME

I participated in the 2024 session of the summer school on Modelling Assisted Migration to adapt forests and ecosystem services to climate change (29 July-2 August 2024).

Time was split between:

(i) lectures on tree population biology, quantitative genetics and modelling tree migration by including genetic variation in the models of trees’ response to climate;

(ii) practical applications on a species (Picea abies in my group) with data preparation, variable selection and model calibration, and then predictions and interpretation;

(iii) an excursion to oak and larch provenance trials, a seed orchard, a Douglas-fir experiment, and a visit to Lieco, the largest nursery company in Central Europe.

Therefore, it was a summer school with very diverse and interesting activities. The lectures were clear, concise and very well linked to each practical modelling session that followed. The fact that a lot of time was allocated to practical work was a very positive point.

The organisers were very involved and dynamic, making the course interactive, with an excellent atmosphere and many beneficial scientific discussions between everyone throughout the week.

This week has been and will continue to be very useful to me, as my PhD topic falls right into modelling assisted migration. It enabled me to take a step back and gain a better understanding of the models I had produced up to then, and to prepare my future studies and models. 

I highly recommand this summer school, and I am very grateful to EVOLTREE for allowing me to take part.