WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
OptGERM reports individual seed and early-seedling trait records for 15,774 seeds from 43 populations of silver fir, sycamore maple, European beech, sessile oak, pubescent oak and cork oak. Controlled translocation experiments tested germination and early development across sowing temperatures, with dormancy/stratification treatments for selected species. The database preserves provenance, environmental origin, germination timing and post-germination traits for population-level analyses.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
The practical value is not one new regeneration rule; it is the ability to stop treating a tree species as genetically uniform. Provenance-level responses can support assisted regeneration and better tests of where warming creates germination or early-establishment bottlenecks.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
This is a database and experimental resource, not a field demonstration that a particular provenance should be planted in a particular place. Six species and sampled populations do not represent all European forests, and controlled chambers simplify field competition, soil biota, frost, drought and herbivory.
SOURCE
Annals of Forest Science — database paper
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