LusoQuercus - Conservação de Quercus lusitanica: restauro de um carvalho arbustivo emblemático e negligenciado.

The main goal of LQ is the intelligent conservation/restoration of the threatened Ql populations from NW Portugal, integrating genomics, SDMs, landscape aesthetics and intensive propagation under phytosanitary control, in close collaboration with local agents. A PVP will be used as nursery and as orchard for acorn production of genetically selected materials, with monitoring of PVP renaturalization as proof of concept. Further objectives include promoting the use of the species in urban / rural landscaping and harnessing its empathic potential to engage student / public / politics opinion and action towards nature conservation. LQ research addresses the major challenge of biodiversity decline as a consequence of climate change, by tackling the conservation and restoration of an important species whose survival is menaced by warming temperatures. In fact, climatic model projections indicate significant loss of Ql suitable areas in its southern distribution and vast range shifts towards NW, where populations have been devastated by anthropogenic activities (2). Therefore, LQ will be pivotal to guarantee the conservation and restoration of NW Ql populations. Moreover, since Ql confers resilience to fire-prone ecosystems and has a pioneer role in forest succession, LQ research will also impact on the important challenges of fire vulnerability of current NW Portuguese “forests”, and the needed restoration of native forests. On another dimension, with PVP dual use and renaturalization, LQ research addresses the pressing challenge of multiple uses of territory, compatible with income for local human populations, and with biodiversity and maintenance of viable ecosystems. The proposed promotion of Ql in landscaping addresses the challenge of naturalization as a management strategy for urban green areas, reducing city management costs, restoring environmental services and inspiring human appreciation of nature. Finally, the capitalization of the human empathic potential of the dwarf Ql oak to transform it into an iconic species representative of Portugal's natural heritage, addresses the vital challenge of wakening public opinion and action in what concerns the importance of nature conservation for global sustainability. The goal of LQ is innovative by addressing a neglected species with high ecological and heritage value and by proposing the intersection of cutting-edge methodologies (genomics, remote sensing, GIS, distribution models) to understand adaptation in face of different climate scenarios, and guide the in situ and ex situ conservation / restoration activities. LQ entails the ground-breaking genomic characterization of the full extant Ql populations, which will be linked to a proper geobotanical framework and landscape design towards coherent restoration plans resilient to climate change. Restoration will be supported by intensive propagation under strict phytosanitary control, namely through the pioneering dual use of PVPs. The overall LQ approach crisscrosses a range of different disciplines and establishes a new paradigm for conservation/restoration of plant species/ecosystems.