Forest ecosystems provide important ecological services and resources, from habitat for biodiversity to the production of environmentally friendly products, and play a key role in the global carbon cycle. Humanity is counting on forests to sequester and store a substantial portion of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide produced globally. However, the unprecedented rate of climate change, deforestation, and accidental importation of invasive insects and diseases are threatening the health and productivity of forests, and their capacity to provide these services. Knowledge of genetic diversity, local adaptation, and genetic control of key traits is required to predict the adaptive capacity of tree populations, inform forest management and conservation decisions, and improve breeding for productive trees that will withstand the challenges of the 21st century. Genomic approaches have well accelerated the generation of knowledge of the genetic and evolutionary underpinnings of nonmodel tree species, and advanced their applications to address these challenges. This special issue of Evolutionary Applications features 14 papers that demonstrate the value of a wide range of genomic approaches that can be used to better understand the biology of forest trees, including species that are widespread and managed for timber production, and others that are threatened or endangered, or serve important ecological roles. We highlight some of the major advances, ranging from understanding the evolution of genomes since the period when gymnosperms separated from angiosperms 300 million years ago to using genomic selection to accelerate breeding for tree health and productivity. We also discuss some of the challenges and future directions for applying genomic tools to address long‐standing questions about forest trees.

中文翻译：

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森林基因组学：促进气候适应、森林健康、生产力和保护。

森林生态系统提供重要的生态服务和资源，从生物多样性栖息地到环保产品的生产，并在全球碳循环中发挥着关键作用。人类依靠森林来隔离和储存全球产生的大部分人为二氧化碳。然而，前所未有的气候变化、森林砍伐以及入侵昆虫和疾病的意外输入正在威胁着森林的健康和生产力及其提供这些服务的能力。需要了解遗传多样性、当地适应和关键性状遗传控制的知识，以预测树木种群的适应能力，为森林管理和保护决策提供信息，并改进能够抵御 21 世纪挑战的高产树木的育种。基因组方法极大地加速了非模式树种遗传和进化基础知识的产生，并推进了其应用以应对这些挑战。本期《进化应用》特刊刊登了 14 篇论文，展示了各种基因组方法的价值，这些方法可用于更好地了解林木生物学，包括广泛分布并用于木材生产的物种，以及其他受到威胁或威胁的物种。濒临灭绝，或发挥重要的生态作用。我们重点介绍了一些重大进展，从了解自 3 亿年前裸子植物与被子植物分离以来基因组的进化，到利用基因组选择来加速树木健康和生产力的育种。我们还讨论了应用基因组工具解决有关林木的长期问题的一些挑战和未来方向。