Interannual dynamics of stemwood nonstructural carbohydrates in temperate forest trees surrounding drought

Interactions between water and carbon dynamics underlie drought-related tree mortality.While whole-tree water relations have been shown to play a key role in the response to and recovery from drought,the role of nonstructural carbohydrates(NSC) and how their storage and allocation changes surrounding drought events deserves further attention and is critical for understanding tree survival.Here,we quantified in situ NSC responses of temperate forest trees to the 2016 drought in the northeastern United States.Sugar and starch concentrations were measured in the stemwood of five tree species from 2014 to 2019,which allowed us to monitor NSCs in relation to climatic conditions before,during,and after the natural drought.We found that immediately following the drought,measured stemwood NSC concentrations decreased.However,NSC concentrations rebounded quickly within three years.Notably,trees allocated proportionally more to starch than to sugars following the 2016 drought.In winter 2017,starch comprised 45% of total stemwood stores,whereas starch made up only 1-2% in other years.Further,we modeled and assessed the climatic drivers of total NSC concentrations in the stem.Variation in total NSC concentrations was significantly predicted by the previous year’s temperature,precipitation,and standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index(SPEI),with stemwood concentrations decreasing following hotter,drier periods and increasing following cooler,wetter periods.Overall,our work provides insight into the climatic drivers of NSC storage and highlights the important role that a tree’s carbon economy may play in its response and recovery to environmental stress.

Effect of the seeds provenance and treatment on the germination rate and plants growth of four forest trees species of Cote d’Ivoire

The rapid rate of deforestation in Cote d’Ivoire has led to loss of plant species diversity and also threatens some commercial tree species with extinction.Some reforestation and aff orestation has been completed.However,for some species,the numbers of surviving transplants has declined.Hence,it is necessary to develop properly adapted and resilient genotypes that can eff ectively support the programs of forest restoration.In this context we evaluated the eff ects of the provenances of seeds and of various treatments on the germination rates and on plant growth of four commercial trees species(Pycnanthus angolensis,Terminalia superba,Mansonia altissima and Pterygota macrocarpa).We analyzed these parameters for seeds of three provenances(Daloa,Akoupéand Daoukro)of four species and for thirty plants aged 6 months per provenance.Time to begin germination and time to reach maximum germination were similar among species,and were not infl uenced by either treatment or provenance.Untreated seeds and those soaked for 24 and 48 h in water at room temperature yielded the highest germination rates,irrespective of species or provenance.The one exception was P.angolensis,for which no germination was recorded.Within species,some provenances produced higher germination percentages than did others.No clear relationship was computed between the germination rate and the morphometric characteristics of the seeds which varied signifi cantly between provenances.Plant growth and morphological variability also depended greatly on provenance.Genetic factors might be implicated,therefore provenance trials should be undertaken and evaluated.Furthermore,molecular analysis should be undertaken to confi rm the implications of genetic factors and allow for genetic selection.

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) Discovery and Linkage Disequilib-rium (LD) in Forest Trees

With completion of the Populus genome sequencing project and the availability of many expressed sequence tags （ESTs） databases in forest trees, attention is now rapidly shifting towards the study of individual genetic variation in natural populations. The most abundant form of genetic variation in many eukaryotic species is represented by single nucleotide polymorphisms （SNPs）, which can account for heritable inter-individual differences in complex phenotypes. Unlike humans, the linkage disequilibrium （LD） rapidly decays within candidate genes in forest trees. Thus, SNPs-based candidate gene association studies are considered to be a most effective approach to dissect the complex quantitative traits in forest trees. The present study demonstrates that LD mapping can be used to identify alleles associated with quantitative traits and suggests that this new approach could be particularly useful for performing breeding programs in forest trees. In this review, we will describe the fundamentals, patterns of SNPs distribution and frequency, summarize recent advances in SNPs discovery and LD and comment on the application of LD in the dissection of complex quantitative traits in forest tress. We also put forward the outlook for future SNPs-based association analysis of quantitative traits in forest trees.

Integrating evolutionary genomics of forest trees to inform future tree breeding amid rapid climate change

Global climate change is leading to rapid and drastic shifts in environmental conditions,posing threats to biodiversity and nearly all life forms worldwide.Forest trees serve as foundational components of terrestrial ecosystems and play a crucial and leading role in combating and mitigating the adverse effects of extreme climate events,despite their own vulnerability to these threats.Therefore,understanding and monitoring how natural forests respond to rapid climate change is a key priority for biodiversity conservation.Recent progress in evolutionary genomics,driven primarily by cutting-edge multi-omics technologies,offers powerful new tools to address several key issues.These include precise delineation of species and evolutionary units,inference of past evolutionary histories and demographic fluctuations,identification of environmentally adaptive variants,and measurement of genetic load levels.As the urgency to deal with more extreme environmental stresses grows,understanding the genomics of evolutionary history,local adaptation,future responses to climate change,and conservation and restoration of natural forest trees will be critical for research at the nexus of global change,population genomics,and conservation biology.In this review,we explore the application of evolutionary genomics to assess the effects of global climate change using multi-omics approaches and discuss the outlook for breeding of climate-adapted trees.

Lignin engineering in forest trees: From gene discovery to field trials

Wood is an abundant and renewable feedstock for the production of pulp,fuels,and biobased materials.However,wood is recalcitrant toward deconstruction into cellulose and simple sugars,mainly because of the presence of lignin,an aromatic polymer that shields cell-wall polysaccharides.Hence,numerous research efforts have focused on engineering lignin amount and composition to improve wood processability.Here,we focus on results that have been obtained by engineering the lignin biosynthesis and branching pathways in forest trees to reduce cell-wall recalcitrance,including the introduction of exotic lignin monomers.In addition,we draw general conclusions from over 20 years of field trial research with trees engineered to produce less or altered lignin.We discuss possible causes and solutions for the yield penalty that is often associated with lignin engineering in trees.Finally,we discuss how conventional and new breeding strategies can be combined to develop elite clones with desired lignin properties.We conclude this review with priorities for the development of commercially relevant lignin-engineered trees.

Evaluating Contribution of Trees Outside Forests for Income of Rural Livelihoods of Terai Region of Nepal

Trees Outside Forests (TOF) is a reliable source of income for farmers in rural area but study regarding this has not been explored in depth yet. Therefore, this study was objectively conducted to assess the contribution of income from TOF products in annual income of rural household. Dhangadimai Municipality of Siraha district, Nepal was selected as study site. Altogether, 300 household surveys and 20 Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted to find the income sources and their contribution including TOF. The descriptive analysis and unitary method were applied to analyze the collected data. The off-farm income was US$ 1802.57 in total per household. Among it, the highest income was from remittance around US$ 762.34 (42.29%) and the lowest from government job around US$ 166.68 (9.25%). The farm based total annual income per household was US$ 685.94 on which, the highest income was US$ 220.28 (32.11%) from grains and the lowest income was US$ 0.04 from ploughing other farmers’ field. The total value of livestock of average household was US$ 805.99 and out of this, the highest value was of buffalo i.e. US$ 333.01. At the same time, annual income from TOF product was about US$ 853.31 in total per household. Out of this, the highest income was approximately US$ 521.90 (61.16%) from fruits followed by US$ 214.77 (25.17%) from selling of timber. The highest net income per household was US$ 448.66 respectively from selling timber by rich family while US$ 233.78 for medium family. In addition, the net income from selling fruit by rich, medium and poor family was US$ 427.82, 550.71, and 382.43 respectively. Specifically, the total contribution of income only from TOF product was US$ 853.3027 (20.57%). This research will be useful document to develop the economic policy related to TOFs in different agroforestry

Review:effects of wind on trees

Wind not only causes extensive damages to trees in many parts of the world, it also has more subtle effects on the growth and morphology of trees and forest ecology as well. Wind damage to trees has historically been the field of silviculture, but increasing recognition of the importance and complexity of the subject has recently got people involved from many other disciplines. Due to the global climate changes, it is believed that the risk of further and stronger storms is increasing. In order to better understand the effects of wind on individual trees, forest stand and forest ecosystem, and further to practice the management of forests, it is necessary to summarize the research results related to this subject. This review was mostly based on the references from recent researches in the field, especially from the symposium volumes of some international conferences on this subject. The results indicated that there have been significant progresses in the following aspects: 1) the aerodynamic interaction between wind and trees, 2) the mechanics of trees under wind loading and adaptive growth, 3) the tree's physiological responses to wind, and 4) the risk assessment of wind damage to forest. However, there are some aspects which may need further studies: 1) wind damage to natural forests, 2) wind-driven gap formation and forest dynamics, 3) the effects of changes resulted from wind disturbances on ecological processes of forest ecosystem, and 4) management for the wind-damaged forests. Key words Wind - Wind effect - Trees/forest - Forest ecology - Disturbance CLC number S718 Document code B Foundation item: This research was supported by “the 100-Young-Researcher Project” of Chinese Academy of Sciences (BR0301) and National Natural Science Foundation (30371149).Biography: ZHU Jiao-jun (1965-), male, Ph. Doctor, Professor of Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences. China. Scholar researcher of Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, JapanResponsible editor: Song Funan

Analysis of the major components of root exudates released from several economic forest tree using GC-MS

In 2000 and 2001, 1-year-old seedlings of 7 economic tree species including chestnut, apricot, persimmon, peach, walnut, pear and apple were cultured in garden pots that had a diameter of 40 cm and were filled with clean sand. The major components of exudates released from their roots were isolated and analysed by GC-MS. Totally 200 kinds of organic chemicals were isolated, of which 3 kinds i.e. naphthalene, dimethylbenzene and dibutyl phthalate were principally controlled pollutants according to 'Blacklist of Principal Environment Pollutants in China' and the standard of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The research result provided theoretical evidence for selecting low-pollution economic forest crops in the water source protection area in Miyun Reservoir.

Photosynthetic and Growth Responses to Elevated [CO2] are Determined by Multiple Forest Ecosystem Conditions

The responses of photosynthesis and growth of forest trees to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration [CO2] are modified by ecosystem conditions. With the exception of a few, the vast majority of empirical studies on the impact of future high CO2 levels on forest trees have focused on [CO2] alone or in combination with an environmental factor. This paper uses the case of CO2 × nutrient and CO2 × nutrient-related interactions to evaluate the relative value of single or multiple ecosystem factors in determining the responses of photosynthesis and growth to elevated [CO2]. A comprehensive literature search was conducted with Google Scholar. The findings show a consensus among studies that CO2 and nutrient availability have synergistic effects on photosynthesis and growth. However, combinations of nutrient availability with temperature or moisture modify the CO2 effect in ways different from nutrient availability alone. To increase the predictive power of empirical studies, it is recommended that conclusions on the responses of forest trees to elevated atmospheric [CO2] be based on interactions with multiple, rather than single, ecosystem conditions.

Demographic variation and habitat specialization of tree species in a diverse tropical forest of Cameroon

Background： Many tree species in tropical forests have distributions tracking local ridge-slope-valley topography. Previous work in a 50-ha plot in Korup National Park, Cameroon, demonstrated that 272 species, or 63% of those tested, were significantly associated with topography. Methods： We used two censuses of 329,000 trees ≥1 cm dbh to examine demographic variation at this site that would account for those observed habitat preferences. We tested two predictions. First, within a given topographic habitat, species specializing on that habitat （＇residents＇） should outperform species that are specialists of other habitats （＇foreigners＇）. Second, across different topographic habitats, species should perform best in the habitat on which they specialize （＇home＇） compared to other habitats （＇away＇）. Species＇ performance was estimated using growth and mortality rates. Results： In hierarchical models with species identity as a random effect, we found no evidence of a demographic advantage to resident species. Indeed, growth rates were most often higher for foreign species. Similarly, comparisons of species on their home vs. away habitats revealed no sign of a performance advantage on the home habitat. Conclusions＂ We reject the hypothesis that species distributions along a ridge-valley catena at Korup are caused by species differences in trees _〉1 cm dbh. Since there must be a demographic cause for habitat specialization, we offer three alternatives. First, the demographic advantage specialists have at home occurs at the reproductive or seedling stage, in sizes smaller than we census in the forest plot. Second, species may have higher performance on their preferred habitat when density is low, but when population builds up, there are negative density-dependent feedbacks that reduce performance. Third, demographic filtering may be produced by extreme environmental conditions that we did not observe during the census interval.

Accumulation of heavy metals in stemwood of forest tree plantations fertilized with different sewage sludge doses

The levels of heavy metals that accumulated in stemwood of mature trees grown for 20 years in a plantation in an abandoned peat quarry in areas that were fertilized with different amounts of domestic sewage sludge(180,360,and720 Mg ha-1on a dry basis) were compared with trees grown in a reference nonfertilized area.Included in the study was a hybrid poplar(Populus tremula x Populus tremuloides) developed for use as an energy crop,three local tree species and one introduced tree species.The concentrations of Cd,Cr,Cu,Ni,Pb and Zn in the stemwood of the trees grown in the fertilized and nonfertilized fields were determined,and found to be significantly lower than their respective concentrations in the soil.Cd and Cr were found only in several wood samples at concentrations close to the limits of detection or qualification; therefore,they were not analyzed further.A correlation analysis suggested that 75%of the correlations between the concentrations of heavy metals in the stemwood and the concentrations in the soil were negative.The ability of trees to accumulate the metals from soil in most cases decreased for Cu and Ni; however,the correlations were not as clear for Pb and Zn.The followingsequence for the levels of heavy metals found in the stemwood of the analysed trees was Zn [ Pb [ Ni [ Cu [(Cr,Cd).The results of this study showed that the levels of heavy metals in the studied wood would not exceed the permitted limits of heavy metal pollution in the air and ash when used for energy production.

Antioxidant,nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of Garcinia kola and Chrysophyllum albidum from rainforest ecosystem of Ondo State,Nigeria

Tropical forests contain many tree species that have supplied edible fruits for centuries.These fruits have contributed to human diets due to their richness in nutrients,vitamins,minerals,antioxidants and their low antinutrients content.We investigated the antioxidant,nutritional and anti-nutritional composition of Garcinia kola and Chrysophyllum albidum fruit parts.The nutritional,anti-nutritional and antioxidant compositions differed depending on the fruit part.Irrespective of fruit part,moisture content was high（72–93 %）.While the edible part（fruit pulp） of C.albidum proved a better source of protein（4）,fibre（17 %） and fat（2 %）,the seed kernel was a better source of ash（2 %） and carbohydrate（15 %）.Carbohydrate（22 %）,protein（2 %）,fat（1 %） and fibre（3 %） were higher in G.kola seed kernel（edible part） than in the pulp and pod.Anti-nutrient content in G.kola and C.albidum fruits was low,indicating that their consumption would not pose nutritional or health problems.The antioxidant compositions（especially phenolic content（10–21 mg g-1） and DPPH（1,1-diphenyl–2 picrylhydrazyl）（26–55 %）） of C.albidum fruit pulp and G.kola seed kernel were high,implying that they could be good sources of natural antioxidants and could be used as supplements in food manufacturing.

Observations on forest restoration in Jilin, China

This paper reviews various forestry practices in Jilin Province, China. The authors emphasize the rich natural diversity of Jilin and the need to focus research efforts on understanding the potential of native species to meet the needs of land-management agencies involved in forest resource exploitation and ecological restoration. The native species of China hold great potential, and deserve more research attention, for meeting these needs. The introduction and testing of exotic species should be dbne only under rigorous scientific testing and after comparison with native species prior to operational introduction into forestry in order to avoid unwanted ecological consequences, including potential problems with alien invasives and pest introductions. The authors also emphasize the need to maintain viable （e.g., genetically diverse and reproductively fit） natural populations of native species in order to protect China＇s valuable natural diversity and maintain the potential of native species to function as future seed sources for local forest and ecological restoration activities.

Application of Molecular Marker Technology in the Study of Forest Tree Species

Due to its unique advantages, molecular marker technology is widely applied in the research of forest tree species. This paper reviewed the application of molecular marker technology in tree species resource diversity, germplasm identification, genetic map construction, gene mapping and marker-assisted selection (MAS) breeding. In addition, it elaborated the great significance of molecular marker technology to promote the sustainable development of forestry production in China.

Mapping Deciduous Broad-leaved Forested Swamps Using ALOS/Palsar Data

Accurate, updated information on the distribution of wetlands is essential for estimating net fluxes of greenhouse gases and for effectively protecting and managing wetlands. Because of their complex community structure and rich surface vegetation, deciduous broad-leaved forested swamps are considered to be one of the most difficult types of wetland to classify. In this research, with the support of remote sensing and geographic information system, multi-temporal radar images L-Palsar were used initially to extract the forest hydrological layer and phenology phase change layer as two variables through image analysis. Second, based on the environmental characteristics of forested swamps, three decision tree classifiers derived from the two variables were constructed to explore effective methods to identify deciduous broad-leaved forested swamps. Third, this study focused on analyzing the classification process between flat-forests, which are the most severely disturbed elements, and forested swamps. Finally, the application of the decision tree model will be discussed. The results showed that: 1) L-HH band(a L band with wavelength of 0–235 m in HH polarization mode; HH means Synthetic Aperture Radars transmit pulses in horizontal polarization and receive in horizontal polarization) in the leaf-off season is shown to be capable of detecting hydrologic conditions beneath the forest; 2) the accuracy of the classification(forested swamp and forest plat) was 81.5% based on hydrologic features, and 83.5% was achieved by combining hydrologic features and phenology response features, which indicated that hydrological characteristics under the forest played a key role. The HHOJ(refers to the band created by the subtraction with HH band in October and HH band in July) achieved by multi-temporal radar images did improve the classification accuracy, but not significantly, and more leaf-off radar images may be more efficient than multi-seasonal radar images for inland forested swamp mapping; 3) the lower separability between forested swamps dominated by vegetated surfaces and forest plat covered with litter was the main cause of the uncertainty in classification, which led to misleading interpretations of the pixel-based classification. Finally, through the analysis with kappa coefficients, it was shown that the value of the intersection point was an ideal choice for the variable.

Researches of Agrobacterium rhizogenes Ri Plasmid rol Genes

Expression of rol genes from Ri plasmid of Agrobacterium rhizogenes not only leads to the excessive formation of adventitious roots, but also exhibits various genetically modified characteristics that have broad prospects for the application of plant genetic improvement. Since the 1980s of the last century, much progress has been made in the studies of A. rhizogenes, in particular the agropine type Ri plasmid rol genes and their applications for plant genetic improvement, which involves the structure and function of Ri plasmid, the characters of rol genes, the influence of rol genes expression on plants growth and development, and the applications of rol genes for genetic improvement of forest tree. In this paper, the advances in this field are reviewed and the existing problems about the application of rol genes for genetic improvement of forest tree are also discussed.

Phosphate solubilization potential of native rhizospheric microflora and their impact on growth of Madhuca latifolia(Mahua):An oil yielding medicinal plant of India

Madhuca latifolia is an economically important medicinal and oil yielding plant of India having slow growth rate.As microbial application to the rhizosphere of host plant are beneficial for growth and development of plants,a comprehensive experimental study by using native microflora of Madhuca latifolia had been carried out in the nursery conditions.Isolation and identification of native rhizospheric soil revealed the occurrence of 17 different types of bacteria(gram negative and positive)and 30 numbers of fungi belonging to myceloid type,Aspergillus,Alternaria,Colletotrichum,Fusarium and Penicillium.Present study was confined to phosphate solubilizing microbes for which solubilization potential(solubilization index and solubilization efficiency)was evaluated.Inoculation experiments in pot culture with red laterite soil were set in two experimental categories(1)non-transplanted and(2)transplanted.Plants grown under both the conditions with and without microbial application were maintained up to 120 days and final data recorded for morphological,physiological growth and as soil parameters.The mineral solubilizing potential of native microbial strains has been expressed.Fungal inoculants were more effective than the bacterial inoculants as far as the growth and development of plants concerned.Among all,bacteria MLB-1,MLB-6,Aspergillus terreus and non-sporulating dematiaceous form of fungi were prominent in improving plant growth.This has also been confirmed the useful and beneficial impact of indigenous organism.The records made during the study is useful for development of bioinoculants for forest trees,nursery of quality planting material which will also helps in establishment at plantation site.

Neofusicoccum parvum causing canker of seedlings of Juglans regia in China

Cankered, dying seedlings of Juglans regia were observed in Shaanxi province in the northwest region of China. Neofusicoccum parvum was isolated from these cankered tissues, with the identification based on mor- phology and an ITS-nrDNA sequence. In order to demonstrate how cultures of N. parvum could cause the expected symptoms, artificial infection, using these isolates and re-isolation of the pathogen, was used. This is the first report on this taxon as a walnut canker pathogen in China.

Proteomic analysis of differentially abundant proteins in the embryo and endosperm of Givotia moluccana (L.) Sreem

Proteome analysis of embryo and endosperm of Givotia moluccana,a promising angiosperm tree species was carried out using two-dimensional electrophoresis combined with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight to identify differentially abundant proteins and their possible functions.The study revealed the presence of 492 protein spots in the embryo and 432 in the endosperm,and the relative abundance of 44 spots varied significantly between the two.Of the 21 functionally characterized protein spots,14.3%were involved in metabolism and energy,28.6%in protein destination and storage,14.3%in defense and stress and 19%in cell growth and division.The embryo-specific protein ATPdependent zinc metalloprotease FtsH is predicted to be involved in chloroplast biogenesis and the endospermspecific protein hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratase in fatty acid synthesis.These results suggested that the seeds have proteins required for germination and for stress responses.

Comparison of stem taper models for the four tropical tree species in Mount Makiling, Philippines

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of six stem taper models on four tropical tree species, namely Celtis luzonica(Magabuyo),Diplodiscus paniculatus(Balobo), Parashorea malaanonan(Bagtikan), and Swietenia macrophylla(Mahogany) in Mount Makiling Forest Reserve(MMFR), Philippines using fit statistics and lack-of-fit statistics. Four statistical criteria were used in this study, including the standard error of estimate(SEE),coefficient of determination(R^2), mean bias( E),and absolute mean difference(AMD). For the lack-offit statistics, SEE, E and AMD were determined in different relative height classes. The results indicated that the Kozak02 stem taper model offered the best fit for the four tropical species in most statistics. The Kozak02 model also consistently provided the best performance in the lack-of-fit statistics with the best SEE, E and AMD in most of the relative height classes. These stem taper equations could help forest managers and researchers better estimate the diameter of the outside bark with any given height,merchantable stem volumes and total stem volumes of standing trees belonging to the four species of thetropical forest in MMFR.