Natural selection is the main evolutionary mechanism leading to adaptation of gene pools to the environmental conditions over the course of generations. Hence, populations growing e.g. in dry habitats are supposed to be locally adapted and evolved traits to cope with poor water availability.

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WP3 will examine signatures of drought adaptation in the oak genome at the regional and interregional (continental) scale. By using environmental data (climatic and edaphic) and genome-wide allele frequency patterns of each studied population, loci underlying phenotypic selection can be detected.