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  1. Conserving and managing the trees of the future: genetic resources for Pacific Northwest forests.

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    Author(s): Sally Duncan
    Date: 2003
    Source: Science Findings. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. April (52): 1-5
    Publication Series: Science Findings
    Station: Pacific Northwest Research Station
    PDF: View PDF  (376.0 KB)

    Description

    Genetic resource management has historically called for altering the genetic structure of plant populations through selection for traits of interest such as rapid growth. Although this is still a principal component of tree breeding programs in the Pacific Northwest, managing genetic resources now also brings a clear focus on retaining a broad diversity within and among genetic populations. Genetic diversity, after all, allows species to adapt to the ever-changing environmental and biological stresses they experience through time, and provides the material for new traits of interest. Wise genetic resource management thus involves the monitoring and management of multiple levels of genetic variation that operate at different scales of space and time. Current challenges to genetic “manipulation” of any kind, even via old-fashioned breeding, are raising new questions about diversity that are now part of the expanding realm of tree breeding programs in the Northwest and elsewhere.

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    • This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.

    Citation

    Duncan, Sally. 2003. Conserving and managing the trees of the future: genetic resources for Pacific Northwest forests. Science Findings. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. April (52): 1-5

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