Pacific Southwest Research Station

Publication Information

Title: The influence of silvicultural practices on genetic improvement: height growth and weevil resistance in eastern white pine

Author: Ledig, F. Thomas; Smith, D.M.

Date: 1981

Source: Silvae Genetica 30:30-36

Description: When grown in a common environment, the progeny of white pine (Pinus strobus L.) from weeviled stands improved by selection thinning outperformed the progeny of wolfy dominants from untreated stands in both height and weevil resistance. Within families, weevils tended to attack the tallest trees. Among families the relationship was not as strong and actually reversed during the last year of measurement. Therefore, it is possible to select for weevil resistance without sacrificing height growth. The improvement in height was attributed in part to natural and artifical selection for rapid growth, but primarily to a reduction in inbreeding. In unthinned stands inbreeding depression may have resulted from crossing among the codominants and their parents, wolfy dominants of the type removed in selectively thinned stand. The reduction in weevil attack was primarily the result of selective removal of low value, weeviled parents. The data demonstrated that silvicultural operations such as thinning or regeneration cutting can result in genetic improvement if properly applied, or genetic deterioration if silviculturists ignore genetic principles.

Key Words: Pinus strobus, timber stand improvement, selective thinning, genetic variation, inbreeding

View and Print this Publication (1.3 MB)

Pristine Version: An uncaptured or "pristine" version of this publication is available. It has not been subjected to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and therefore does not have any errors in the text. However it is a larger file size and some people may experience long download times. The "pristine" version of this publication is available here: View and Print the PRISTINE copy of this Publication (2.1 MB)

Publication Notes:

Evaluate this Publication

Citation

Ledig, F. Thomas; Smith, D.M.  1981.  The influence of silvicultural practices on genetic improvement: height growth and weevil resistance in eastern white pine  Silvae Genetica 30:30-36.