The third reporting period is the time of full maturity of the FORGENIUS project.
FORGENIUS brings together scientists from multiple research fields, who were not used to share their research before, as well as a gradient of sensitivities from pure research to pure management. Multiple cogs, represented by the first six work packages, constitute an efficient and streamlined chain of transmission of information, from science to management and back. The ultimate goal of the project, like a flower at the tip of the stem of a flowering plant, is a new information system for the description of the network of Genetic Conservation Units, coupled with a user-friendly interface allowing the user to navigate unassisted through the system.
Data collection is now complete. The consortium has collectively decided that each working party would publish the data produced by the project under the form of "data papers", that is, peer-reviewed scientific publications that allow to share curated data as soon as they become available—as opposed to publishing the data in the context of articles that analyse the data and test scientific hypotheses, which typically take much longer to prepare and publish. This is in the "Open access" spirit that informs the project's publication plans (and the EC's guidelines for open science). In all relevant Work Packages (WP1 through WP4), the preparation of data papers is ongoing, with all expected articles planned for submission within the first half of 2025. “Results” papers are continuously flowing from the project as well, from modelling of resilience to climate extremes to assessment of long-term adaptive potential. Ph. D. students contributing to FORGENIUS’ success have defended their theses, or are busy working on one. The Consortium is really behaving as a true community, which is an obvious key to success.
The development of end user-oriented products is also reaching its goals. The new EUFGIS Information System has been finalised, with the definition of all the indices that enter the description of Genetic Conservation Units. The process that led to this list of indices needs to be highlighted: scientists, data scientists, information technologists, and end-users all worked together to compile a balanced set of diversity indicators from multiple sources, taking into account the needs expressed by end-users; this outreach effort materialised in the very detailed and expansive Data Dictionary that was built during the process of the creation of the new EUFGIS.
Finally, the EUFGIS User Interface is now accessible to beta-testers for feedback and training. The new EUFGIS holds vast amounts of information, from environmental indices obtained through remote sensing, through modelled predictions of response of trees to extreme events, to eco-physiological traits to genomic data and estimators of (adaptive) diversity. It is a complex mass of data, yet presented in a simple, intuitive way.
