Effects of the parental environment on full-sib families of Pinussylvestris

Abstract

Identical pair crosses, including reciprocals, in Pinussylvestris L. (Scots pine) were made on ramets of the same clones in three clonal archives (seed orchards) in Sweden: Sävar (64°N), Röskär (59.5°N), and Degeberga (56°N). The offspring were used to test the hypothesis that the parental environment could affect the performance of the progeny (aftereffects). Growth and freezing tests were performed in the controlled conditions of the Stockholm Phytotron. Parental environment affected seed weight: the heaviest seeds came from Röskär and the lightest seeds, from Degeberga. Height development was affected in the two growth periods tested: seeds from Sävar produced the shortest plants and seeds from Röskär, the tallest plants. There was an effect on the autumn frost hardiness in the first growth period that disappeared after the second growth period. The most hardy progenies came from Sävar. The aftereffects of the parental environment were less than the maternal effects on seed weight and also less than the effects of full-sib families on growth and autumn frost hardiness. Small but mostly significant reciprocal effects were found for height and height increment during the second growth period. There was a significant reciprocal effect for seed weight. Seed weight differences could explain only a small part of the effects on growth and none of the effects on hardiness.

Identification of seed sources and parents of Pinus sylvestris L. using visible–near infrared reflectance spectra and multivariate analysis

“…Maternal environmental conditions during seed development have a significant effect on physical properties of a seed, such as surface structure of seeds (Tillman-Sutela et al 1998), seed weight (Dormling and Johnsen 1992) as well as seed size and germinability (Gutterman 2000). Often, three colour types are encountered in Scots pine seeds: light, mixed and dark with varying proportions within and between provenances (Tillman-Sutela and Kauppi 1995).…”

“…For P. sylvestris, a significant after-effect was observed in seed weight, height growth, mortality and frost hardiness in the nursery, phytotron, and field trials (Lindgren and Wang 1986;Dormling and Johnsen 1992;Lindgren and Wei 1994). After-effects on cold acclimation and height growth in lodgepole pine seedlings have also been reported (Wei et al 2001).…”

“…Seed samples were obtained from a controlled crossing experiment performed earlier to study possible maternal environmental effects on the performance of progenies (Lindgren and Wang 1986;Dormling and Johnsen 1992;Lindgren and Wei 1994). In the study performed to identify seed sources, seed samples were drawn from a single family (a cross of clones AC1005 and BD1178) grown in three localities in Sweden: Sävar (north, 63 • 54 N and 20 • 33 E), Röskär (central, 59 • 25 N and 18 • 12 E) and Degeberga (south, 55 • 47 N and 14 • 04 E) and harvested in 1982-1983.…”

Seasonal Variation in Pollen Catch in a Black Spruce Orchard

“…However, information provided by Dormling & Johnsen (1992) indicates that various after-effects (or adaptation to the new environment) may result from the movement of orchards to a warmer climate. Such after-effects need to be verified further and with different species.…”

Epigenetic memory effects in forest trees: a victory of “Michurinian biology”?

“…However, the offspring of translocated seed orchards exhibited lower frost resistance compared to the original northern populations (Johnsen 1989;Dormling & Johnsen 1992). A poorer performance of such offspring in terms of frost hardiness was initially attributed to pollen contamination from the local (southern) pollen sources, which is typically high in Scandinavia.…”