** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** THIS PROJECT'S GOAL IS TO DEVELOP AN IMPROVED PREDICTIVE TOOLKIT FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT BASED ON GENETIC AND ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES. THE PROJECT FOCUSES ON QUAKING ASPEN (POPULUS TREMULOIDES), WHICH IS THE MOST WIDELY-DISTRIBUTED TREE SPECIES IN NORTH AMERICA, AND IS OF HIGH ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL VALUE. THE SPECIES IS EXPERIENCING HIGH MORTALITY IN SOME PARTS OF ITS RANGE, IN PART DUE TO DROUGHT AND HERBIVORY. IT IS OF VERY HIGH MANAGEMENT CONCERN.BETTER TOOLS ARE NEEDED TO MITIGATE ASPEN AND PROMOTE REGENERATION IN ASPEN FORESTS. THIS PROJECT WILL DEVELOP SUCH PREDICTIVE TOOLS, USING GREENHOUSE MEASUREMENTS AND DROUGHT/HERBIVORY EXPERIMENTS APPLIED TO HUNDREDS OF FIELD-COLLECTED TREES WITH KNOWN GENOTYPES. OUTPUTS WILL ENABLE BETTER FORECASTING OF RISK, IMPLEMENTATION OF MITIGATION STRATEGIES, AND SCREENING OF GENOTYPES.