Population genetics states that fragmentation caused by anthropogenic deforestation lead to the loss of genetic diversity resulting in genetically impoverished forests. However, empirical evidence providing a comprehensive understanding of the demographic and genetic outcomes of deforestation is lacking for most of natural species. Of high interest in this respect, is that some Mediterranean forests typically have patchy distributions but maintain high levels of genetic diversity. This proposal project uses as a model Juniperus phoenicea, a species that naturally occurs in continuous and patchy distributions. By combining field and molecular data with landscape genetic models, the proposed project addresses a long debated hypothesis in forestry research: to determine the role of natural and anthropogenic fragmentation in shaping spatial patterns of genetic variation and its functional Form ICTS-RBD link to natural regeneration success within landscapes. We will compare natural and anthropogenic fragmentation in 10 populations located in southern Portugal and Spain, the proposed study will first characterize environmental, demographic, and genetic variation at the landscape level underlying natural regeneration patterns. Firstly we will apply metapopulation models to understand how local and regional demo-genetic processes coupled to maintain high levels of genetic diversity in naturally fragmented landscapes. This will provide a comprehensive picture of how demo-genetic processes proceeds at the landscape level to keep high levels of genetic variation in fragmented landscapes. Once demo-genetic processes are understood at different spatial scales, we aim at studying how functional genetic variation drive
natural recruitment patterns. Secondly, we aim at linking environmental, genetic, and functional variation with recruitment success variation. Finally, in an advance stage of our research we will apply high throughput sequencing to scan both neutral and functional variation (SNPs), with special emphasis on those traits linked to drought tolerance. This study will provide highly valuable genetic information on the genetic variation of those traits linked to drought tolerance, a particularly important issue in Mediterranean habitats given the predictions of increasing water availability in the following decades.