Provenance Research - Broadleaves
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Climate Change and Seed Transfer Research
AMAT - Assisted
Migration Adaption Trial
Provenance Research - Conifers
Provenance Research - Broadleaves
Utilization and management of forest resources of native broadleaf tree species
in the coastal region of British
Columbia have been receiving increased attention since
the early 1990s. Three species, namely red alder (Alnus rubra), bigleaf
maple (Acer macrophyllum), and black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa),
have good commercial potential, and therefore are the focus of the attention.
One consensus derived from problem analyses was that the lack of genetic
information on adaptive and commercially important traits would hinder the
effective management of these species. It was against such a backdrop that
genetic research on broadleaf species was initiated in the mid-1990s.
Long-term provenance-progeny
testing for red alder was initiated in 1995. There are two trials, one located
at Bowser on southern Vancouver Island and the other at Thunderbird near Terrace
in northern British Columbia.
Forty-two provenances, each with five families, are tested at each site.
Ten-year test results suggest that two seed zones (breeding zones), one for the
southern and another for the northern region, should be delineated to minimize
maladaptation and maximize gain in seed deployment and tree breeding. The proper
boundary between the two zones seems to be latitude 52oN. Significant
latitudinal patterns of adaptive genetic variation in growth and survival
suggest about a 5% increase in mortality for each degree of northward transfer
and about a 1.5 dm3 decrease in stem volume for each degree of
southward transfer of seed sources. Two base populations, one for each breeding
zone, were constructed. The base population for the northern zone consists of
800 trees of 68 families from 24 provenances north of 54oN at
Thunderbird while the base population for the southern zone consists of 929
trees of 116 families from 36 provenances south of 50oN at Bowser.
Ninety forward selections were made for the southern zone based on stem volume
and other quality characteristics such as form and branch number and size. The
average breeding value of the selections in stem volume at the rotation age of
40 years is about 18%. Fifty-four trees were selected from the northern zone
with an average breeding value of about 16%. A clone bank has been established
at the Cowichan Lake Research Station of the B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range.
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Chang-Yi Xie in our Terrace, B.C. 12-year old red alder progeny test. |
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Collecting scions from selected individuals in a 10-year-old red alder
provenance-progeny trial |
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Two long-term provenance-clonal trials were established for black cottonwood,
with about 450 clones from 120 provenances in 2005. One site is located near
Terrace and the other at Red Rock, near Prince George. A southern site at
Harrison Mills was established in the spring of 2007. Genetic conservation,
long-term genecology study, and clonal selection are the main objectives of
these tests.
| Chang-Yi Xie in the newly established cottonwood
provenance-clonal trial at Harrison Mills |
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Seeds from 43 provenances of bigleaf maple were collected in 2005. Thirty
provenances are located in British Columbia,
four in Washington, four in Oregon, and five in
California. Ten trees were sampled in each provenance
and seeds from each tree were bagged separately. Four provenance-progeny test
trials will be established in the spring of 2008, two on
Vancouver Island and two on the coastal mainland.
| Bigleaf maple seedlings |
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Chang-Yi Xie,
Research Scientist
Ministry contact:
Alvin Yanchuk
Please direct questions regarding webpage to For.Prodres@gov.bc.ca
Updated
June 2009 | 
