Targets in Swedish Tree Improvement of Scots pine and

Norway spruceDag Lindgren

at Adaptive Traits Needed for Breeding Zones

Delineation Madrid, February 25-26, 2008

http://www-genfys.slu.se/staff/dagl/TREEBREEDEX/MadridMeeting.htm

Zones seldom static

• I suggest lineation among zones should seldom be regarded as fixed, but change over the time and for the purpose. Adaptation is to a point and a moment, not over a permanent area.

• There are seldom sharp borders.• In Sweden temperature and latitude most

important.• Large edafic differences is more choice of

species than tree breeding.• A most important adaptation is to global

warming, I come to that • I’ll show a few Swedish ”zones”.

Plants in Sweden 2006

0

50

100

150

200

250

Scots pine Norway spruce

Mill

ion

pla

nts

Foreign stand

Foreign seed orchard

Swedish stand

Swedish seed orchard

Tree Breeding• Swedish long term tree breeding is structured in subpopulations,

each with 50 tested founders.• The populations are targeted based on heat sum and light climate

(altitude and latitude).• Figures show the targets of 24 pine (left) and 22 spruce (right)

subpopulations

Current Swedish seed orchard target areas for new seed orchards, (15 per species)

Pine Spruce

Seed orchard targets for producing seed orchards

One target for planning and establishment;

Later, when crop is available, a recommendation;

Actual use may still be something else, but little exact statistics…

A second round seed orchard may now look like this

Photo: Dag Lindgren

Västerhus seed orchard

     

                                                                                                        

     

Recommended area for using the seed orchard

Västerhus (T10)

Latitude for plus tree origin 63°30'Category: TestedLocation:Latitude 63,8 NElevation 15 mEstablished 1991

     

Global warming

• We have a global warming – how shold tree breeders react?

Swedish breeding does prepare for an uncertain future in a general way!!!!

• The breeding population targets are somewhat wider spaced than corresponds to forest area or plant use, thus breeding effort goes towards sea level and timber limit to prepare for an uncertain future!

• Forest trees are plastic by Nature and likely to be able to stand some change…

• As materials are tested over a range of environments they will be more plastic and stable than Evolution made them. Evolution knows only now and here….. This is an advantage tree breeders have over evolution! Sweden aims for a still larger spreading of the breeding materials in testing from now than 2006.

Temperature is rising in the World and Sweden

World

Sweden

I became convinced 2007…• Since the UN report early 2007 I consider it a

fact. It will be warmer, and the temperature will not cool down to pre-2006 within a century!

• We must react in some way – not just be prepared for an unspecifiec change, but react to the fact it will be warmer!

What temperature change?• Target near the time future plantations = 2015

(The years following plantation are most critical).• Avoid too large change• Few scenarios predict less than 2 degrees rise

in a century• Standard temperature is for 1961-1990• Our experience on transfers mainly based on

before 1990 events.• Thus a change from sometime slightly before

1990 to sometime slightly after 2015, could be half a degree.

• Make it simple!

How to mimic temperature change?

• Just reduce the elevation!

• Temperature in Swedish vegetation period rises somewhat more than one degree when elevation is reduced 100 m!

• Thus, reduce elevation 50 m!

Dag’s recipe tree breeding response to global warming

• Use materials as the plantation site had 50 m lower elevation.

• Long term breeding could act accordingly. Target and test plantations for Swedish breeding populations 50 m higher up.

http://www-genfys.slu.se/staff/dagl/TREEBREEDEX/MadridMeeting.htm