Coastal Tree Breeding - Overview

• Site Map
• Overview
• Tree Breeding Programs
• Research Highlights
• Consultations
• Recent Publications
• Ministry Contacts

Overview

Coastal Douglas-fir, western redcedar, yellow-cedar, western hemlock, western white pine, Sitka spruce, and a variety of broadleaved tree species are important components of coastal maritime and coast-interior transition forests. These species are highly valued for their growth rates and wood quality, generating commercial pressure on the resource. The goal of the tree improvement program in British Columbia is to produce well-adapted, selectively bred seeds or cuttings that will grow into trees with stable and improved volume, growth, and quality, while at the same time maintaining the genetic diversity found in natural populations.

The Coastal Tree Breeding research program began in the late 1950s with inbreeding and wide crossing studies conducted by Dr. Allan Orr-Ewing. It has grown to include breeding and improvement programs for all coastal commercial species across many areas, managed as seed planning zones. The research program ensures that comprehensive genetic resource management programs are developed and implemented to ensure appropriate development of forest tree materials by conventional plant breeding practices, conservation of genetic resources, and risk reduction (i.e., adaptation and resilience to climate change and other disturbances).

The Coastal Tree Breeding research program provides critical support to the following key Ministry goals:

• Addressing second-growth management issues on the coast, such as adaptation and diversity of planting stock and more successful and faster free-growing status
• Understanding how to adapt forest management activities to climate change and evaluating the magnitude and implications of its risks for forests
• Improving industry competitiveness through protecting reforestation investments and long-term volume gains.

The research program works closely with the Tree Improvement Branch, Forest Genetics Council of B.C., Ministry District and Regional staff, private nursery and seed orchard operations, and industry forestry practitioners.

Tree Breeding Programs

• Coastal Douglas-fir
• Western redcedar
• Yellow cypress
• Sitka spruce
• Western white pine (coastal)
• Western hemlock
• Broadleaves

Research Highlights

• Completed measurement and early selection in the second phase of the advanced-generation coastal Douglas-fir breeding program.
• Completed the application of optimum selection methods to candidate selections for advanced seed orchard deployment.
• Analyzed western redcedar parental breeding values for volume at rotation from 10-year height data. Breeding values for the top five parents from Series 1 vary from 26% to 38%.
• Examining 3rd generation deer browse resistance breeding with parental selections based on total needle monoterpenes from 2nd generation selfed and outcrossed families being established into a rapid breeding cycle.
• Estimated yellow-cedar clonal breeding values derived from ASReml from 10-12 year height data. These forward selections from cloned diallels are currently being established in breeding orchards for the development of an advanced generation population.
• Outcrossing of random and select western redcedar parents from 4th generation selfed lines has been successfully started and is continuing. This material will be used to investigate inbreeding depression and hybrid vigour for growth.
• Analyzed 10-year results and selected improved stock from second generation progeny tests for maritime low-elevation western hemlock. Superior trees identified from the tests will provide an 8–10% improvement in volume at rotation age over the first generation trees currently used by seed orchards, and grow 23–25% more wood volume than unselected western hemlock stock.
• Completed 2nd generation weevil resistance population crosses and established the last of the field tests.
• Collected western redcedar seed and scions from an additional 16 populations consisting of 151 parent trees from the east Kootenays Seed Planning Zone, as well as from Washington, Idaho, and Montana. There is now seed from 55 Interior Cedar-Hemlock zone populations with over 550 parents, which will be used to establish a genecology study in the interior to assist in seed transfer.
• Establishing four provenance-progeny test trials for bigleaf maple in the spring of 2008, two on Vancouver Island and two on the coastal mainland.
• Presented a paper at the joint meeting of the Southern Forest Tree Improvement Council and Western Forest Genetic Association in Galveston, Texas summarizing the results of a QTL analysis of growth and wood quality traits using families from the coastal Douglas-fir breeding program.
• Examined distribution of wood density values in coastal Douglas-fir across its B.C. range, and modelled projected changes under two different climate change scenarios.
• Analyzing 15-year data on yellow-cedar genecology studies to assess survival, growth, and cold-hardiness of populations originating from California to Alaska and to identify any differences among populations in climatic tolerance.
• Initiating an investigation into the genetic and physiological basis of yellow-cedar die-off along B.C.'s North Coast.
• Initiated provenance trials for subalpine fir, using 60 seed sources originating from throughout the tree's range.
• Established field tests for western white pine second-generation control crosses to further improve upon genetic resistance to white pine blister rust.
• Investigating host interactions for white pine blister rust to help identify mechanisms enabling tree resistance to the disease.
• Analyzed genetic conservation for 9 commercial tree species in B.C. to determine whether threshold conservation needs are being met with protected areas and with stored seed and germplasm collections.
• Investigated the protection status of naturally growing populations for all 50 tree species native to B.C. to assess whether they are being conserved, as determined by meeting a minimum threshold level for a long-term sustainable population.
• Established red alder clone banks of genetically superior stock, selected from first-generation trials, that is capable of producing up to 29% gain in stem volume at a rotation age of 40 years.
• Investigating, with long-term provenance-progeny trials, the genetic variation among northern and southern coastal B.C. populations of black cottonwood, to identify the most productive stocks.

Consultations

A multi-agency collaboration continues to research the genetic and ecological basis of western redcedar and yellow-cedar deer browse resistance. Collaborators include scientists from the National Wildlife Services of the United States Department of Agriculture, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia.

Two scientific exchanges with Scion, a New Zealand Crown research institute, have resulted in a collaborative program on Cupressaceae breeding and improvement, and computer simulations are optimizing tree breeding strategies.

Multi-year collaboration with FPInnovations-Forintek to further our understanding of the relationship between western redcedar heartwood chemicals and wood durability, and the selection of parental trees for inclusion into the breeding program.

Coastal Hardwood Species Committee, Chair—An interagency committee to discuss management and research issues related to hardwood tree breeding; makes recommendations to the Forest Genetics Council regarding funding priorities.

Frontiers of Forestry in China, Editorial Board member.

On-going consultation with seed orchard owners on development of new material and access to selections.

Collaboration with the University of Victoria, Forest Biology Department on forest genetics statistical analysis and experimental design and graduate student support for physiology studies.

Consultation on DNA analysis for research supporting private seed orchard management.

Consultation and co-operation with the Tree Improvement Branch on initiatives such as the Forest Tree Genetic Resource Conservation and Management Challenge Dialogue and the Chief Forester’s Standards for Seed Use.

Invitations to Patagonia, Chile to review the use of exotic species in the Magallanes region.

Organized 5-needle pine meeting in Vailug (Western Carpathians of Romania) in leadership role for IUFRO committee.

Advisor(s) to UBC Treenomix, in association with Genome BC, on a project on Conifer Forest Health. 

Recent Publications

Bishir, J., A.D. Yanchuk, J.H. Russell, and K.R. Polsson. 2008. BCWEEVIL: A simulation model of the joint population dynamics between spruce weevil and Sitka spruce, over the lifetime of a plantation. Ecological Complexity. 5(3): 260-271.

El-Kassaby, Y.A., I. Moss, D. Kolotelo, and M.U. Stoehr. 2008. Seed germination: Mathematical representation and parameters extraction. For. Sci. 54(2): 220-227.

El-Kassaby, Y.A., M.U. Stoehr, D. Reid, C.G. Walsh, and T.E. Lee. 2007. Clonal-row versus random seed orchard designs: interior spruce mating system evaluation. Can. J. For. Res. 37: 690-696.

Hak O. and J.H. Russell. 2007. Increasing quality seed production in western redcedar orchards: A synthesis of a multi-year foliar-applied gibberellin A3 study. Forest Genetics Council of BC, Exten. Note 9. http://www.fgcouncil.bc.ca/ExtNote9-Final-web.pdf

Kimball B.A., J.H. Russell, J.P. DeGraan, and K.R. Perry. 2008. Screening hydrolyzed casein as a deer repellent for reforestation applications. West. J. Appl. Forestry. 23(3): 172-176.

King, J.N. and A. David. [2008]. Genetic approaches to the management of blister rust in white pines. For. Ecol. Manage. Submitted.

King, J.N. and R.I. Alfaro. 2009. Developing Sitka spruce populations for resistance to the white pine weevil: Summary of research and breeding program. B.C. Min. For. Range, Res. Br., Victoria, B.C. Tech. Rep. 50.

McKay-Byun, A., K.-A. Godard, M. Toudefallah, D.M. Martin, R.I. Alfaro, J.N. King, J. Bohlmann, and A.L. Plant. 2006. Wound-induced terpene synthase gene expression in Sitka spruce that exhibit resistance or susceptibility to attack by the white pine weevil. Plant Physiol. 104: 1009–1021.

Pharis, R.P., J.H. Russell, R.D. Guy, S.D. Mansfield, S.D. R. Zhang, and L.V. Kurepin. 2007. Enhanced flowering and early progeny testing - two important tools in tree improvement. A New Era for the Conservation and Utilization of Forest Genetic Resources. Forest Seed Research Centre, Suanbo, Korea. Forest Research Institute, Suwon, Korea, pp. 114-140.

Robinson, A.R., N.K. Ukrainetz, K.-Y., Kang, and S.D. Mansfield. 2007. A comprehensive metabolomics analysis of two Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) progeny test trials. New Phytologist 174: 762-773.

Russell, J.H. [2008]. Deployment of deer resistant western redcedar seedlots. In: Proc. For. Nurs. Assoc. BC and West. For. Cons. Nurs. Assoc., Sidney, B.C. R. Lee (editor). In press.

Russell, J.H. 2008. Deployment of deer resistant western redcedar seedlots. In: Dumroese R.K., Riley L.E., technical coordinators. National Proceedings: Forest and Conservation Nursery Associations—2007. Fort Collins (CO): USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Proceedings RMRS-P-57: 149-153. http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_p057.html

Russell, J.H. and C.F. Ferguson. 2008. Preliminary results from five generations of a western redcedar (Thuja plicata) selection study with self mating. Tree Genetics and Genomes. 4(3): 509-518.

Russell, J.H. and O. Hak. 2007. Effect of gibberellin A3 inductions on male and female cone production and seed quality in western redcedar (Thuja plicata). West. J. Appl. For. 22(4): 297-306.

Russell, J.H., H. Kopes, P. Ades, and H. Collinson. 2007. Genetic variation in Didymascella thujina resistance of Thuja plicata. Can. J. For. Res. 37(10): 1978-1986.

Sanchez, L., A. Yanchuk, and J.N. King. 2008. Gametic models for multi-trait selection schemes to study variance of response and drift under adverse genetic correlations. Tree Genetics and Genomes. 4(2): 201-212.

Stoehr, M., A. Yanchuk, C-Y. Xie, and L. Sanchez. 2008. Gain and diversity in advanced generation coastal Douglas-fir selections for seed production populations. Tree Genetics and Genomes. 4(2): 193-200.

Stoehr, M., H. Mehl, G. Nicholson, G. Pieper, and C. Newton. 2006. Evaluating supplemental mass pollination efficacy in a lodgepole pine orchard in British Columbia using chloroplast DNA markers. New Forests 31: 83–90.

Ukrainetz, N.K., K. Ritland, and S.D. Mansfield. 2008. An AFLP linkage map for Douglas-fir based upon multiple full-sib families. Tree Genetics and Genomes. 4(2): 181-191.

Ukrainetz, N.K., K.-Y. Kang, S.N. Aitken, M. Stoehr, and S.D. Mansfield. 2008. Heritability, phenotypic and genetic correlations of coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) wood quality traits. Can. J. For. Res. 38(6): 1536-1546.

Ukrainetz, N.K., Ritland, K., and Mansfield, S.D. 2008. Identification of quantitative trait loci for wood quality and growth across eight full-sib coastal Douglas-fir families. Tree Genetics and Genomes. 4(2): 159-170.

Wang, T. and J.H. Russell. 2006. Evaluation of selfing effects on western redcedar growth in operational plantations using Tree and Stand Simulator (TASS). Forest Science 52(3): 281–289.

Xie, C.-Y. 2008. Ten-year results from red alder (Alnus rubra Bong.) provenance-progeny testing and their implications for genetic improvement. New Forests. 36(3): 273-284.

Xie, C.-Y., C.C. Ying, A.D. Yanchuk, and D.L. Holowachuk. 2009. Ecotypic mode of regional differentiation due to restricted gene migration: A case in black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa T. & G.) along the Pacific Northwest coast. Can. J. For. Res. 39(3): 519-536.

Xie, C.-Y., Y.-B. Fu, and A.D. Yanchuk. 2006. Accuracy of ranking individuals in field tests of different designs: a computer simulation. Silvae Genetica 55(2): 45–92.

Yanchuk, A.D., J. Bishir, J.H. Russel, and K.H. Polsson. 2006. Variation in volume production through clonal deployment: results from a simulation model to minimize risk for both a currently known and unknown future pest. Silvae Genet. 55(1): 25-37.

Ying, C.C. and A.D. Yanchuk. 2006. The development of British Columbia's tree seed transfer guidelines: Purpose, concept, methodology, and implementation. For. Ecol. Manage. 227: 1-13.  

Ministry Contacts

Charlie Cartwright, Research Scientist (CLRS)
John King, Research Scientist
Jodie Krakowski, Research Scientist (CLRS)
John Russell, Research Scientist (CLRS)
Michael Stoehr, Research Scientist
Chang-Yi Xie, Research Scientist

Ministry contact: Alvin Yanchuk
Please direct questions regarding webpage to For.Prodres@gov.bc.ca
Updated March 2008