Symposium 2. Common garden experiments to evaluate tree adaptation in a changing climate
My Session Status
Current and projected changes in climate are estimated to be from 10 to 100 times faster than the natural adaptive capacity of trees whose generation times are long. As extreme climatic events are becoming more frequent and exert a strong selection pressure on tree populations, there is an urgent need to better characterize the genetic variability involved in the response of trees to climate. There is currently a lack of knowledge on the role of genetic variability in tolerance to climatic variations and on population evolution in trees. This context advocates the use of multidisciplinary approaches and innovative tools to measure traits that reflect how and when climate exerts selective constraints on trees. The concurrent analysis of tree-ring traits derived m from dendroecology, wood anatomy, and genotypes from provenance tests allows the quantification of the genetic variability associated with traits important for climate adaptation, within and between populations planted on the same site. This symposium aims to showcase the latest work on the development and applications of tree rings and genomics from provenance testing under common garden experiments. In particular, we will show that the development and implementation of interdisciplinary projects is the key to quickly and effectively preparing tree species for future climate. The studies presented at this symposium may include those that assess genetic differentiation, climate sensitivity across populations, support land use planning efforts, identify adequate seed sources for reforestation, and increase forest performance and value under future climatic constraints.
Sub Sessions
The main objective of this study was to develop a universal response function to integrate climatic and genetic effects on the diameter growth of 13 eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L.) provenances planted at seven test sites throughout the part of the species’ native distribution in eastern North America. The test sites (i.e., Wabeno, Wisconsin, USA; Manistique, Michigan, USA; Pine River, Michigan, USA; Newaygo, Michigan, USA; Turkey Point, Ontario, Canada; Ganaraska, Ontario, Canad...
In the 1970s, forest geneticists with the British Columbia Forest Service established a number of long-term provenance trials throughout the province. The Trinity Valley (TV) provenance trial was established in 1975 in the southern interior to evaluate interior Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) across the species’ range. TV is a factorial experiment, where 64 populations of 4 year-old Douglas-fir seedlings were planted in a randomized complete-block design with three replicat...
Climate change threatens forest trees. Their ability to resist depends on their potential to adapt. Phenotypic plasticity, i.e. the potential for individual adaptation, is a rapid mechanism that can allow trees to adjust to new climatic conditions. Tree-rings allow retrospective estimation of phenotypic plasticity of wood formation to climate in forest trees. In this study we show how to estimate linear reaction norms of annual ring variables as a function of climate. We use the slope of t...
Rapidly warming climate affects water availability for boreal conifer species, thus urging the need for assessing their adaptive capacity to better predict forest vulnerability and resilience under drier climates. In this study, we first used a dendroecological approach to determine the level of climate sensitivity of white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) trees grown in a provenance-family common garden. We detected a clear signal of local genetic adaptation to drought, with provenance...
Assisted gene flow (AGF) may help facilitate tree species’ adaptation to future climatic conditions. When applied to resource-producing species such as black spruce (BS, Picea mariana), AGF could contribute to maintaining forest productivity and therefore carbon sequestration. For AGF to succeed, it is important to determine how growth varies among different populations under different climates, especially for species with large distribution ranges. Existing common garden experiments repre...