Dr Igor Chybicki from the University of Casimir the Great in Bydgoszcz won PLN 540 thousand within the OPUS call organized by the National Center for Science for his project “The scope and route of gene dispersion in metapopulation of a coniferous tree sown by a bird”.

Thanks to the use of genetic methods of determining parenthood, similar to the methods used in forensic genetics, it is possible to learn whether naturally renewing yew seedlings are the result of the spread of seeds and pollen between populations, and whether the distance of seed distribution depends on the abundance of the breeding ( i.e., the quality of the feed base of birds that shed seeds).

The 3-year project will be implemented at the Department of Genetics (Institute of Experimental Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences) in cooperation with the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria in Madrid and the University of Agriculture in Krakow.