Recent technological advances in the field of genomics offer conservation managers and practitioners new tools to explore for conservation applications. Many of these tools are well developed and ...used by other life science fields, while others are still in development. Considering these technological possibilities, choosing the right tool(s) from the toolbox is crucial and can pose a challenging task. With this in mind, we strive to inspire, inform and illuminate managers and practitioners on how conservation efforts can benefit from the current genomic and biotechnological revolution. With inspirational case studies we show how new technologies can help resolve some of the main conservation challenges, while also informing how implementable the different technologies are. We here focus specifically on small population management, highlight the potential for genetic rescue, and discuss the opportunities in the field of gene editing to help with adaptation to changing environments. In addition, we delineate potential applications of gene drives for controlling invasive species. We illuminate that the genomic toolbox offers added benefit to conservation efforts, but also comes with limitations for the use of these novel emerging techniques.
Full text
Available for:
EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
•Peripheral forest tree populations face high extinction risks under climate change.•Peripheral forest tree populations result from unusual local adaptation processes.•Peripheral forest tree ...populations harbor valuable evolutionary potential.•Peripheral forest tree populations are key assets for adaptive forestry globally.•Peripheral forest tree populations require an evolution-based management strategy.
The fate of peripheral forest tree populations is of particular interest in the context of climate change. These populations may concurrently be those where the most significant evolutionary changes will occur; those most facing increasing extinction risk; the source of migrants for the colonization of new areas at leading edges; or the source of genetic novelty for reinforcing standing genetic variation in various parts of the range. Deciding which strategy to implement for conserving and sustainably using the genetic resources of peripheral forest tree populations is a challenge.
Here, we review the genetic and ecological processes acting on different types of peripheral populations and indicate why these processes may be of general interest for adapting forests and forest management to climate change. We particularly focus on peripheral populations at the rear edge of species distributions where environmental challenges are or will become most acute. We argue that peripheral forest tree populations are “natural laboratories” for resolving priority research questions such as how the complex interaction between demographic processes and natural selection shape local adaptation; and whether genetic adaptation will be sufficient to allow the long-term persistence of species within their current distribution.
Peripheral populations are key assets for adaptive forestry which need specific measures for their preservation. The traditionally opposing views which may exist between conservation planning and sustainable forestry need to be reconciled and harmonized for managing peripheral populations. Based on existing knowledge, we suggest approaches and principles which may be used for the management and conservation of these distinctive and valuable populations, to maintain active genetic and ecological processes that have sustained them over time.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Combining biomass production from fast-growing woody species with wastewater treatment is an attractive concept from the economic, energy and environmental points of view. A pilot experiment on ...study-ing the effect of wastewater treatment on the early growth and initial physiological responses of willow and poplar plants was carried out in greenhouse conditions. The survival, height growth, net photosyn-thesis, stomatal conductance and transpiration of two hybrid clones of black poplar (
Populus
x
euroameri-cana
(Dode) Guinier) (I-214 and I-45/51) and white willow (
S. alba
L.) pot-grown plants treated with different doses of agrochemically characterised wastewater sludge were studied during the establishment year. The height growth and number of resprouted willow shoots were also measured during the second year after cutting, at the end of the vegetation season. While the early growth height of poplar clones was markedly affected by the clone origin and wastewater sludge treatment, the latter did not considerably influence the height of the willow plants either during the establishment and the following year, but essentially increased the number of resprouted shoots during the second vegetation season. The rate of CO
2
assimilation of willow plants was significantly influenced by the wastewater sludge treatment, with plants grown at the higher doses displaying higher photosynthetic performance. The application of wastewater sludge had no essential impact on the values of the physiological parameters of the poplar plants, but particular responses were found among the clones.
Cultivation of energy crops is concerned with estimation of the total lignified biomass (dendromass) production, which is based on the plantation density and individual plant dendromass. The main ...objective of this study was to investigate the allometry of aboveground leafless biomass of juvenile black poplar hybrids (Populus deltoides x P. nigra ), traditionally used for timber and cellulose production, and to derive generic allometric models for dendromass prediction, relevant to energy crop cultivation in Bulgaria. The study material comprised a variety of growth sites, tree ages and clones, specific to poplar plantings in Bulgaria. We used three principal quantitative predictors: diameter at breast height, total tree height and mean stand (stock) height. The models were not differentiated by clone, because the black poplar hybrids tested were not equally represented in the data, and the inclusion of tree age as a predictor variable seemed unreliable, because of the significant, up to 3 years, variation, which was possible within the narrow age range investigated. We defined the mean stand (stock) height as a composite quantitative variable, which reflected the interaction between the time since planting (age), site quality and the intrinsic growth potential. Stepwise and backward multiple regression analyses were applied to these quantitative variables and their products and sets of adequacy and goodnessof-fit criteria were used to derive individual biomass models for stem and branches. Then we developed compatible additive systems of models for stem, branch and total lignified biomass in log-transformed form. Finally, the prediction data were back-transformed, applying correction for bias, and were cross-validated. Three systems of generic equations were derived to enable flexible model implementation. Equation system M1 proposes a stem biomass model based on tree and stand heights and stem diameter, and a model for branches including mean stand height and breast height diameter; this model displayed the best goodness-of-fit characteristics. Model system M2 uses only the tree height and diameter and therefore is most relevant to dendromass determination in single trees or harvested saplings, while model M3 allows fast and sufficiently accurate biomass estimation of standing poplar stock, because it employs the average stand height and the individual tree diameters. All models are applicable to predict lignified aboveground biomass of juvenile Populus deltoides x P. nigra trees of diameter up to 21 cm and total height up to 16 m.
Combining biomass production from fast-growing woody species with wastewater treatment is an attractive concept from the economic, energy and environmental points of view. A pilot experiment on ...study-ing the effect of wastewater treatment on the early growth and initial physiological responses of willow and poplar plants was carried out in greenhouse conditions. The survival, height growth, net photosyn-thesis, stomatal conductance and transpiration of two hybrid clones of black poplar (Populus x euroameri-cana (Dode) Guinier) (I-214 and I-45/51) and white willow (S. alba L.) pot-grown plants treated with different doses of agrochemically characterised wastewater sludge were studied during the establishment year. The height growth and number of resprouted willow shoots were also measured during the second year after cutting, at the end of the vegetation season. While the early growth height of poplar clones was markedly affected by the clone origin and wastewater sludge treatment, the latter did not considerably influence the height of the willow plants either during the establishment and the following year, but essentially increased the number of resprouted shoots during the second vegetation season. The rate of COsub.2 assimilation of willow plants was significantly influenced by the wastewater sludge treatment, with plants grown at the higher doses displaying higher photosynthetic performance. The application of wastewater sludge had no essential impact on the values of the physiological parameters of the poplar plants, but particular responses were found among the clones.
Salix viminalis L. is a broadly cultivated willow species that has been intensively used for breeding purposes, particularly in selection of clones and hybrids for biomass production. The present ...study aimed to explore and compare growth and adaptability of two basket willow (Salix viminalis L.) clonal varieties - rubra and purpurea - at the specific edaphic and climate conditions and cultivation practice presented in an experimental plantation in North Central Bulgaria. The influence of spacing, genotype, root age and rotation on their productivity were also investigated and allometric relationships for non-destructive estimation of woody plant biomass were suggested. The trial plantation was established in the spring of 2018 as 4 sectors of a Nelder wheel plot with 15 nearly-square spacings, ranging from 0.25 to 9.80 m2 (40000–1020 plants per hectare). The two varieties were arranged in 4 four-spoke sectors (2 sectors per clone). Data collection took place from 2018 to 2020 and comprised 1- and 2-year rotations. The study showed that Salix viminalis var. rubra was more susceptible to desiccation-causing adverse climatic changes, poorly adapted to the specific conditions of the study site and gradually died out during the second and the third year. Salix viminalis var. purpurea exhibited steady survival rate (97 - 77%) and annual biomass productivity varying from 3 to 17 Mg/ha/year across the densities, sectors and years. During the first year of growth purpurea variety had a significantly higher plant weight and sprout number than rubra variety. Growing space affected positively the number of shoots and tree dendromass, and sprouting was reinforced by coppicing that doubled the shoot number during the subsequent rotation. This was reflected in the development of the stump-level allometric models that were differentiated according to rotation. The stump-level allometric model of higher predictive power was based on the main shoot length and shoot number. An exponential relationship to the breast-height shoot diameter was also suggested for biomass estimation of each sprout separately.
Full text
Available for:
IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Non-native forest tree species have been introduced in Europe since the 16th century, but only in the second half of the 20th century the significance of the seed source origin for their economic use ...was recognized, resulting in the establishment of numerous provenance trials at a national, regional, European and International level, as those led by IUFRO. Breeding programs have also been launched in the continent for the most economically important species. Aim of this work is the formulation of provenance recommendations for planting of five non-native tree species in Europe (Douglas fir, grand fir, Sitka spruce, lodgepole pine and black locust), based on the information obtained from twenty countries, in the frame of the EU FP-1403 NNEXT Cost Action. The survey revealed that official and non-official national recommendations, based on provenance research results, have been elaborated and followed at a different level and extend for the above five species, but only for Douglas fir recommendations exist in almost all the participating to the survey countries. The compilation of provenance recommendations across Europe for each species is presented in the current work. Besides the recommended introduced seed sources, European seed sources are also preferred for planting, due to ease of access and high availability of forest reproductive material. European breeding programs yielding genetic material of high productivity and quality constitute currently the seed source of choice for several species and countries. Consolidation of trial data obtained across countries will allow the joint analysis that is urgently needed to draw solid conclusions, and will facilitate the development of ‘Universal-Response-Functions’ for the species of interest, rendering possible the identification of the genetic material suitable for global change. New provenance trial series that will test seed sources from the entire climatic range of the species, established in sites falling within and outside the environmental envelopes of their natural ranges, are urgently needed to pinpoint and understand the species-specific climate constraints, as well as to correlate functional traits to the seed origin and the environmental conditions of the test sites, so that the selection of suitable forest reproductive material of non-native tree species in the face of climate change can be feasible.
Genetic monitoring of populations currently attracts interest in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity but needs long-term planning and investments. However, genetic diversity has ...been largely neglected in biodiversity monitoring, and when addressed, it is treated separately, detached from other conservation issues, such as habitat alteration due to climate change. We report an accounting of efforts to monitor population genetic diversity in Europe (genetic monitoring effort, GME), the evaluation of which can help guide future capacity building and collaboration towards areas most in need of expanded monitoring. Overlaying GME with areas where the ranges of selected species of conservation interest approach current and future climate niche limits helps identify whether GME coincides with anticipated climate change effects on biodiversity. Our analysis suggests that country area, financial resources and conservation policy influence GME, high values of which only partially match species' joint patterns of limits to suitable climatic conditions. Populations at trailing climatic niche margins probably hold genetic diversity that is important for adaptation to changing climate. Our results illuminate the need in Europe for expanded investment in genetic monitoring across climate gradients occupied by focal species, a need arguably greatest in southeastern European countries. This need could be met in part by expanding the European Union's Birds and Habitats Directives to fully address the conservation and monitoring of genetic diversity.
Even though plants represent an essential part of our lives offering exploitational, supporting and cultural services, we know very little about the biology of the rarest and most threatened plant ...species, and even less about their conservation status. Rapid changes in the environment and climate, today more pronounced than ever, affect their fitness and distribution causing rapid species declines, sometimes even before they had been discovered. Despite the high goals set by conservationists to protect native plants from further degradation and extinction, the initiatives for the conservation of threatened species in Europe are scattered and have not yielded the desired results. The main aim of this Action is to improve plant conservation in Europe through the establishment of a network of scientists and other stakeholders who deal with different aspects of plant conservation, from plant taxonomy, ecology, conservation genetics, conservation physiology and reproductive biology to protected area's managers, not forgetting social scientists, who are crucial when dealing with the general public.
We analysed genetic variation within and between populations of the common ash from Bulgaria in order to extract biological information useful in the context of conservation management of eastern ...European genetic resources of noble hardwood species. A total of 321 trees from three regions of Bulgaria were typed at six highly polymorphic microsatellite loci. Analysis of within‐population inbreeding suggests an upper boundary value of 2.7% for the selfing rate. Significant spatial genetic structure consistent with models of isolation by distance was detected within four out of 10 populations as well as among populations. Estimates of neighbourhood size in the range 38–126 individual trees were obtained based on spatial genetic structure analyses at either the intrapopulation or interpopulation level. Differentiation among populations explained only about 8.7% of total genetic diversity. These results are discussed in comparison with data from social broad‐leaved species such as oak and beech.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
PDF
