scholarly journals South-Eastern Baltic Provenances of Scots Pine Show Heritable Weather-Growth Relationships

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1101
Author(s):  
Roberts Matisons ◽  
Volker Schneck ◽  
Diāna Jansone ◽  
Endijs Bāders ◽  
Stefānija Dubra ◽  
...  

The productivity of forests has been linked to the sensitivity of tree growth to meteorological conditions and their fluctuations, hence moderation of tree sensitivity is one of the goals for climate-smart forest management. For this, tree breeding is among the most effective means, particularly if breeding populations are supplemented with genotypes (provenances) adapted to the expected climates. Nonetheless, heritability of traits is essential for their improvement by breeding. In this study, heritability of growth sensitivity of south-eastern Baltic provenances of Scots pine differing by field performance to meteorological conditions was assessed combining methods of quantitative genetics and dendrochronology. Five parallel provenance trials within the south-eastern Baltic region were investigated. The effects of regional weather drivers of growth (moisture regime in summer, temperature regime in preceding summer and in the dormancy period) were estimated, yet their strengths differed among the provenances, indicating local specialization of metapopulations of Scots pine. The heritability of growth sensitivity to these factors ranged from low to moderate, similarly as observed for the morphometric traits within the region; however, the provenance (genetic) variation appeared to be higher. The differences in heritability of responses, however, indicated uneven adaptive significance of weather conditions. Although the estimates were based on a limited set of genotypes implying caution in the extrapolation of results, the weather-growth relationships and their heritability indicate that sensitivity of growth is a complementary trait aiding breeding of forest reproductive material best suited for future climates. Heritable weather-growth relationships also imply a high potential for forest breeding to moderate the sensitivity of the trees.

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1641
Author(s):  
Roberts Matisons ◽  
Diāna Jansone ◽  
Endijs Bāders ◽  
Stefānija Dubra ◽  
Pauls Zeltiņš ◽  
...  

Local adaptation and plasticity of growth play important roles in the adaptability of trees to changing conditions. Under accelerating climatic changes, the adaptive capacity of metapopulations can be exceeded, implying a necessity for assisted gene flow to sustain the productivity of forests. Such management is knowledge intensive, and information on the responsiveness of metapopulations (provenances) across the climatic gradient can aid more comprehensive projections of their performance. The plasticity of growth responses to weather conditions of five provenances of Scots pine with differing field performance across the climatic gradient of the south-eastern Baltic Sea region was assessed using dendrochronological methods and generalized additive models. Weather conditions related to water availability in summer, as well as during dormancy, were the main regional drivers of an increment in the provenances. The provenances differed by the plasticity of responses according to field performance, indicating adaptation in terms of growth sensitivity and uneven adaptability. The weather–growth responses of the top-performing provenances to summer weather were more plastic, providing advantages under a changing climate. Accordingly, regional sensitivity and plasticity of growth responses could be used for the screening of genotypes best suited for the projected climates. In addition, the estimated growth responses encourage supplementation of the local breeding populations with the top-performing provenances originating from sites with the projected climates.


2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kaźmierczak ◽  
Bogna Zawieja

Abstract Annual height increments are a very important characteristic of Scots pine. They have a direct effect on the determination of the dendrometric properties of a stand, such as volume increment. In the present study the data concern height increments of the main shoot in selected age classes of trees (age 72 to 92 years). A relationship is determined between the values of the increments and meteorological conditions such as temperature, precipitation and sunshine. On the basis of lasso regression analysis, precipitation in the year preceding the incremental season was shown to have the greatest effect on height increments of Scots pine.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 523
Author(s):  
Jacques Piazzola ◽  
William Bruch ◽  
Christelle Desnues ◽  
Philippe Parent ◽  
Christophe Yohia ◽  
...  

Human behaviors probably represent the most important causes of the SARS-Cov-2 virus propagation. However, the role of virus transport by aerosols—and therefore the influence of atmospheric conditions (temperature, humidity, type and concentration of aerosols)—on the spread of the epidemic remains an open and still debated question. This work aims to study whether or not the meteorological conditions related to the different aerosol properties in continental and coastal urbanized areas might influence the atmospheric transport of the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Our analysis focuses on the lockdown period to reduce the differences in the social behavior and highlight those of the weather conditions. As an example, we investigated the contamination cases during March 2020 in two specific French areas located in both continental and coastal areas with regard to the meteorological conditions and the corresponding aerosol properties, the optical depth (AOD) and the Angstrom exponent provided by the AERONET network. The results show that the analysis of aerosol ground-based data can be of interest to assess a virus survey. We found that moderate to strong onshore winds occurring in coastal regions and inducing humid environment and large sea-spray production episodes coincides with smaller COVID-19 contamination rates. We assume that the coagulation of SARS-Cov-2 viral particles with hygroscopic salty sea-spray aerosols might tend to inhibit its viral infectivity via possible reaction with NaCl, especially in high relative humidity environments typical of maritime sites.


2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yetkin Yildirim

One of the most important components of pavement maintenance has been the sealing of cracks. The most commonly used materials for crack sealing are hot-pour sealants, such as hot rubber asphalt. However, this material can be hazardous at high operating temperatures and is more likely to be picked up by vehicle tires if the sealant is not sufficiently adhered to the pavement. Thus, cold-pour sealants have been considered as an alternative for crack sealing purposes. This study aims to compare the performance of hot-pour rubber asphalt crack sealant and cold-pour asphalt emulsion crack sealant in five different Texas districts that experience different weather conditions. The comparison includes seven different crack sealants: three cold pour and four hot pour. Five different roads in five districts were selected for comparison of the sealants. The field study results indicate that hot-pour sealants performed better than cold-pour sealants.Key words: sealants, emulsified crack sealants, crack sealing, asphalt pavements.


2001 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meredith L. Mitchell ◽  
T. B. Koen ◽  
W. H. Johnston ◽  
D. B. Waterhouse

This paper reports the results of an initial evaluation of a large collection of Australian perennial native grasses. The overall aim of the research was to identify accessions that may be useful for pastoral purposes and for controlling land degradation on hill-lands in the high (>500 mm) rainfall zone of south-eastern Australia. Accessions (807) representing 37 target species were established in spaced plant nurseries at Rutherglen and Wagga Wagga. Dactylis glomerata L. cv. Porto and Eragrostis curvula (Schrad) Nees. Complex cv. Consol were established as comparator (control) species. A range of attributes was observed over a 2-year period (19900—1992), including persistence, vigour, productivity, palatability, morphology, and characteristics related to seed production. Accessions were initially culled on the basis of their persistence. Data for a range of attributes were separately analysed using pattern analysis to provide a broad overview of the performance and characteristics of the remaining accessions. A number of selection criteria were applied which resulted in selection of a promising group of 20 accessions (12 species from 8 genera). The promising group of accessions will be evaluated further at field sites typical of hilly landscapes in the 500mp;mdash;600 mm rainfall zone of south-eastern Australia.


Author(s):  
Nina F. Kuznetsova ◽  
◽  
Elena S. Klushevskaya ◽  
Elena Yu. Amineva

Forest steppe of the Central Chernozem Region (CCR) of Russia belongs to the zone of highly productive pine forests. In 2015, for the first time a partial destabilization of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) was recorded within the territory of the CCR. It affected the population, organism and cellular levels of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The destabilization was caused by the 8-year heatwave of 2007–2014 followed by a sharp drop in the water table and four severe droughts (2007, 2010, 2012, and 2014). The analysis was carried out on two sites of pine forest plantations growing in the environmentally sound region: the Stupino test site (Voronezh region, typical plantation for the CCR) and the Usman site (Lipetsk region, lands with elevated groundwater level). The results of morphological, cytogenetic and biochemical studies of model trees of the Stupino test site during the following periods are presented: 4 optimal years in terms of weather conditions, 2014 drought year and 2015 destabilization year. It was found that prolonged hydrothermal stress resulted in the transition of pine from the basic equilibrium state to a slightly nonequilibrium state. The trigger mechanism for changing their vital state was a severe autumn soil drought in 2014, after which the plants became weakened right before winter. A decrease in cone bioproductivity by the traits of seed fullness and the total number of seeds per cone, a change in population sampling structure, an increase in the number of mitosis pathologies, and an increase in proline content in needles were observed despite optimal weather conditions in 2015. The recovery of species was studied for three subsequent optimal years on the example of the Stupino and Usman populations. Experimental data indicate that the processes of vital state normalization involve profound changes in metabolism and require certain energy expenditures. It took the Stupino population longer to return to the regional norm, which indicates a different depth of destabilization of the tree genetic material of the studied populations. For citation: Kuznetsova N.F., Klushevskaya E.S, Amineva E.Yu. Highly Productive Pine Forests in a Changing Climate. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 6, pp. 9–23. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-6-9-23


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document