Aim To test whether intraspecific trait responses to climate among populations across species distribution ranges can be untangled using field observations, under the rationale that, in natural forest tree populations, long‐term climate shapes population responses while recent climate change drives phenotypic plasticity. Location Europe. Time period 1901–2014. Taxa Silver fir ( Abies alba Mill.) and sessile oak [ Quercus petra...

Why can hosts coexist with conspecifics or phylogenetically proximate neighbours despite sharing specialist enemies? Do the hosts evolve increased enemy resistance? If so, does this have costs in terms of climatic‐stress resistance, or in such neighbourhoods, does climatic‐stress select for resistances that are multifunctional against climate and enemies? We studied oak ( Quercus petraea ) descendants from provenances of contr...

How temperate forests will respond to climate change is uncertain; projections range from severe decline to increased growth. We conducted field tests of sessile oak ( Quercus petraea), a widespread keystone European forest tree species, including more than 150 000 trees sourced from 116 geographically diverse populations. The tests were planted on 23 field sites in six European countries, in order to expose them to a wide ran...

Reproductive strategies of closely related species distributed along successional gradients should differ as a consequence of the trade‐off between competition and colonization abilities. We compared male reproductive strategies of Quercus robur and Q. petraea , two partly interfertile European oak species with different successional status. In the studied even‐aged stand, trees of the late‐successional species ( Q. petraea )...

Extant rear‐edge populations located in former glacial refugia remain understudied despite their high conservation value. These populations should have experienced strong genetic drift due to their small size and long isolation. Moreover, the prolonged action of isolation by distance in refugial areas should result in stronger regional spatial genetic structure ( SGS ) than in recolonized areas, but empirical tests of this pre...