It's easy to support a motherhood statement like "genetic diversity should
be conserved." After more than a decade of attention to this topic, most
of us realize that genetic variation provides the raw material for future selection
in tree improvement programs for new traits (e.g., resistance to new insects or
diseases, or changes in fibre quality to meet new industrial demands). We also
realize that natural populations require genetic diversity to adapt to new environmental
conditions, to allow evolution to proceed. But how do we go about conserving genetic
diversity, and how can we rigorously assess whether we are meeting this goal?
In 2000, the Forest Genetics
Council of British Columbia (FGC) realized that, while gene conservation continued
to be a high priority, this objective was not being met in a strategic and rigorous
manner. As a result, the Centre for Forest Conservation Genetics (CFCG) was established
in the Department of Forest Sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
Funding is provided from the Forest
Investment Account (FIA). The CFCG has a mandate from the Forest Genetics
Council to (1) study population genetic structure of forest trees using existing
or new data; (2) assess the current degree of gene conservation both in situ
in existing reserves and ex situ collections, and the need for additional
protection; and (3) evaluate the current degree of maintenance of genetic diversity
in breeding and deployment populations of improved varieties to meet current and
future environmental challenges.
The Gene Conservation Technical Advisory Committee (GCTAC) of the Forest Genetics
Council has identified the following objectives for a provincial gene conservation
program:
- Inventory and catalogue forest
tree genetic resources.
- Support information
and policy requirements related to forest gene conservation.
- Provide
gene conservation expertise to support and integrate with other biodiversity and
forest ecosystem conservation efforts in British Columbia.
- Develop
and advance gene conservation theory through research and collaboration with other
agencies worldwide.
- Support FGC objectives
by improving the efficiency of gene conservation in seed planning units (species,
seed zone, elevational band) where genetic improvement is being actively carried
out or where forests are being managed using natural regeneration.
- Carry
out communication and extension on gene conservation to the forestry community
and public.
- Assess risks related to biological,
policy and administrative factors, and provide recommendations to FGC on mitigating
these risks.
Gene conservation is accomplished primarily in two ways: in situ
and ex situ. In situ conservation is the long-term maintenance of
genetic diversity in wild populations, typically in conservation reserves. These
populations can continue to adapt and evolve, and to self-regenerate, in these
reserves. The primary concern for in situ conservation is that population
sizes are large enough for the long-term maintenance of genetic diversity (5,000
individuals of reproductive age is a good target), that reserves are located in
different geographic areas to maintain populations adapted to different environmental
conditions, and that each of these geographic or ecological areas has more than
one reserve to guard against catastrophic events. Geographic information systems
(GIS) and spatially explicit databases are used to catalogue the degree of protection
of 48 tree species in British Columbia in reserves that fall under the provincial
Protected Areas Strategy. [More about this
project]
Ex situ conservation maintains genetic diversity
in seed banks, clone and tissue banks, breeding populations, and arboreta. It
typically provides a back-up to in situ conservation, but often has smaller
sample sizes. One of our former graduate students, Washington Gapare, developed
efficient sampling methods for ex situ conservation, focusing on the ability
to capture existing genetic diversity and rare alleles (genetic variants) in seed
collections. Rare alleles are those most likely to be missed when sampling for
gene conservation. Some rare alleles may be vital for meeting future genetic needs,
such as those conferring resistance to the white pine shoot tip weevil in Sitka
spruce, or blister rust resistance in the white pines [More
about this project].
Developing strategies to meet gene conservation
goals for individual species often requires species-specific information on patterns
of genetic variation. We have sound data on genetic variation for BC species of
major economic interest, but know very little about genetic variation in other
tree species in the province. Part of our mandate is to determine patterns of
variation for these so called 'minor species'. Our approach to this problem was
(1) to initiate a project on genetic diversity in whitebark pine, a species previously
found to be at risk, and (2) to prioritize other species for attention:
We initiated work on whitebark pine as this keystone, high-elevation species is
threatened by an introduced fungus causing white pine blister rust, as well as
by fire suppression and climate change. First, Jodie Krakowski studied genetic
diversity and mating system in whitebark pine for her M.Sc. research and found
substantial diversity but higher than usual inbreeding [see related article Genetic
Diversity and Mating System in Whitebark Pine]. Her work raised questions about
inbreeding and disease resistance as well as ecological genetics that were then
addressed by the Ph.D. research of Andy Bower. He has detected significant geographic
variation in traits including cold hardiness and growth phenology that will need
to be taken into account when restoring this species. [More
about this project]
To prioritize remaining species for gene conservation
research, we used three approaches. First, we surveyed foresters, botanists, and
naturalists in the province to collect field observations on the current status
of these species. Second, Dr. Pia Smets reviewed the literature of what is known
in terms of the genetics and ecology of all of these species. Third, we compiled
the results from the project cataloguing in situ protection of these species.
Finally, we convened an expert workshop at UBC in March 2002, to discuss the results
of all of these approaches and to rank species for attention by the CFCG. This
effort is summarized in the article [Prioritizing
Minor Species for Gene Conservation Research]| More
about this project].
The role of maintenance of genetic diversity
in third-party forest product certification was the focus of a project involving
Dr. Justin Stead, Director of the Global Forests and Trade Network of the World
Wildlife Fund, and Graeme Auld and Dr. Gary Bull of the Department of Resource
Management in the Faculty of Forestry at UBC. This project investigated the role
of genetic criteria and indicators in forest certification. A workshop held at
UBC in January 2002 discussed the results of and solicited feedback on this project.
The resulting report, summarized in the article [Forest
Certification and the Management of Forest Genetic Resources], shows the need
to develop robust indicators of the maintenance of genetic diversity to back up
vague objectives relating to genetics. [More
about this project]
Climate change presents substantial challenges
to both the conservation and utilization of forest genetic resources. The CFCG
was awarded a grant funded jointly by the NSERC Strategic Grants Program and the
BIOCAP Canada Foundation to explore genetic strategies to mitigate the effects
of climate change, and the potential for natural populations of forest trees to
adapt to new climates without human mitigation. As part of this work, Andreas
Hamann and Tongli Wang have developed a spatial climate model for BC called ClimateBC
that provides climatic normals and predicted future climatic means for any location
in the province. This model is being used to predict the future distribution of
climatic envelopes of species and ecosystems in a warming climate, and the degree
to which protected areas will remain within these climatic envelopes in the future.
[More CFCG climate change related projects] We
are also examining how changing seed deployment strategies would affect the productivity
of lodgepole pine forests under climate change, using provenance trial data as
climate change experiments [Adapting Forest
Gene Resource Management to Climate Change].
No new CFCG events to post.
For an updated listed of forest genetics meetings
visit
http://dendrome.ucdavis.edu 
We
are located on the third floor of the Forest Science Centre, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver,
BC, V6T 1Z4
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