Adaptation in ecologically diverse Hordeum species: a comparative intra- and inter-species approach (B07)

• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 456082119

Grasses are the most successful plant family in terms of their global occurrence and ecological dominance in many ecosystems, and have given rise to our major crops. We will use the grass clade Hordeum which includes 33 ecologically diverse species and the human bred crop barley to identify trait and genetic variation underlying the ecological diversification, local adaptation, and differences in geographic range of wild and cultivated species. We will compare to what extent human and natural selection target the same traits and genes. Understanding genetic adaptation in wild species might in turn reveal novel adaptive variation to help crop improvement.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 341: Plant Ecological Genetics
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Maria von Korff Schmising, since 7/2022; Professorin Dr. Anna Lampei Bucharova, Ph.D., since 7/2022