Effects of Seed Origin on Drought Resistance of Douglas‐Fir (Pseudotsuga Menziesii) (Mirb.) Franco

Abstract

Douglas—fir seedlings from a number of seed origins were subjected to drought conditions in the greenhouse and laboratory. Interior mountain seedlings showed significantly greater drought resistance than seedlings from origins west of the Cascade Mountains. Differences were also found within each of these groupings. In the Corvallis, Oregon, area seedlings produced from seed on a south slope had more drought resistance than those from a short distance away of a north slope. Differences in drought resistance may involve either drought hardiness or drought avoidance, or both.

Five decades of growth in a genetic field trial of Douglas-fir reveal trade-offs between productivity and drought tolerance

“…However, the low resilience of P8 is in fact consistent with the general relationship between growth and drought resilience found in this trial, as P8 was among the top performers prior to the drought event. It also confirms Ferrell and Woodard (1966) who found low drought tolerance in seedlings from this area. Similarly, the scaling of resilience and productivity can also be observed for P12.…”

“…Within the coastal variety, differences in drought tolerance were found as well: Seedlings from a seed source at the southern end of Oregon were more drought tolerant than seedlings from northern Oregon and Vancouver Island. Even within a single seed source, higher drought tolerance was found on a southern slope than on a northern slope (Ferrell and Woodard 1966).…”

“…Accordingly, drought tolerance of Douglas-fir has been assessed extensively with experiments where seedlings grown in greenhouses were exposed to artificial drought stress or where vulnerability of the xylem to drought-induced cavitation was assessed (Kavanagh et al 1999). Seedlings from the coastal variety menziesii have been found to be less resistant against drought and more vulnerable to cavitation (Ferrell and Woodard 1966;Pharis and Ferrell 1966;Kavanagh et al 1999;Valladares et al 2007). In turn, seedlings from the interior variety glauca have been found to be more drought resistant and less vulnerable to failure of the water-conducting system.…”

Forest responses to climate change in the northwestern United States: Ecophysiological foundations for adaptive management

“…In the NW, differences in drought hardiness were found between the coastal and Rocky Mountain varieties of P. menziesii (Ferrell and Woodard, 1966;Pharis and Ferrell, 1966), reflecting adaptations to broad-scale environmental differences. However, large genetic differences also exist among seed sources.…”

Root architecture might account for contrasting establishment success of Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii and Pinus sylvestris in Central Europe under dry conditions

“…Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca-the more drought-resistant inland variety native to the Rocky Mountains-occurs in a wide range of mesic to xeric sites (Ferrell and Woodard 1966). This variety has been shown to be very susceptible to Rhabdocline pseudotsugae, a fungal needle cast present in North America (Blada 1971;Hoff 1987), which has spread to Europe starting in 1914 causing a huge damage in Douglas-fir plantations (Bürgi and Diez 1986;Stimm and Dong 2001).…”