Course Identification

1. Forests under global change
2. The physiology of tree drought resistance
3. Genetic Diversity in Forest Trees
4. Molecular tools in forest tree research
5. Molecular response of forest trees to biotic and abiotic stresses
6. Approaches towards genetic improvement of forest tree species
7. Tree mortality in forests in Israel and the world
8. Forest management following tree mortality
9. Tree carbon balance and the role of carbon storage
10. Tree water balance
11. Forest tree nutrition and the biotic environment
12. Forest trees at a high CO2 world
13. Field trip to Yatir forest research station

Upon successful completion of the course the students will be able to:

* Get to know the factors that affect the development of forests

*  Understand the effect of drought and elevated CO2 on forest tree physiology

*  Understand water and carbon relations in trees

* Clearly understand the special problems of planted forests in Israel

* Understand the concept of genetic diversity in forest trees

* Understand how current genomic tools in use for tree improvement  

* To influence and contribute to forest conservation

The paper: Cobb, R. C., Ruthrof, K. X., Breshears, D. D., Lloret, F., Aakala, T., Adams, H. D., ... & Hartmann, H. (2017). Ecosystem dynamics and management after forest die-off: a global synthesis with conceptual state and transition models. Ecosphere, 8(12).

The book chapter: David-Schwartz, R., Stein, H., Raveh, E., Granot, D., Carmi, N., & Klein, T. (2019). Plant Response to Drought Stress. In Stress Physiology of Woody Plants (pp. 93-131). CRC Press.

The book: Ecology, Biogeography and Management of Pinus halepensis and P. brutia Forest Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Basin" Edited by Gidi Ne'eman and Louis Trabaud

The paper: Klein, T. (2020). A race to the unknown: Contemporary research on tree and forest drought resistance, an Israeli perspective. Journal of Arid Environments, 172, 104045.