Adaptability of trees persists after millions of years of climate change

Seven of the most common forest trees in Europe have been shown to be able to shelter their genetic diversity from major shifts in environmental conditions.

This is despite their ranges having shrunk and the number of trees having fallen sharply during ice age cycles.

The reason for this high genetic diversity is related to the way these tree species survived through the ice ages and to fact that tree pollen can travel thousands of kilometres .