The following are projects that Camcore is currently working or has recently completed. Your financial contribution helps Camcore achieve its mission “To be a world leader in tree improvement and conservation of forest resources for the benefits of industry, society and environment”.
- Gene Conservation of Red Spruce and Fraser Fir in the Southern Appalachian Mountain
- Near infrared technology used to distinguish among eucalypt clones from Indonesia
- Measuring growth rhythms in Pinus maximinoi
- Gene Conservation of Atlantic White Cedar in the Eastern United States
- Genetic Conservation of Table Mountain Pine in the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Gene Conservation of Red Spruce and Fraser Fir in the Southern Appalachians
The high-elevation red spruce (Picea rubens) and Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) forests of the Southern Appalachian Mountains are among the most threatened ecosystems in North America. Occurring in scattered populations at elevations of 1,300 to 1,500 m (4,500 to 5,000 ft) and 1,600 m (5,500 ft) and above, respectively, both species are in decline due to extensive logging operations and related wildfires in the Appalachian region during the early 1900s followed by the invasion of the exotic insect pest balsam woolly adelgid (BWA, Adelges piceae). Since the 1950s approximately 70% of all remaining Fraser fir has succumbed to BWA. More recently, air pollution has caused further reductions in population size of both species. Reports of reductions of once vast spruce-fir forests that encompassed an estimated 600,000 ha (1.5 million ac) in West Virginia alone in 1865, are now restricted to less than 37,000 ha (90,000 ac) (red spruce) and 20,000 ha (50,000 ac) (Fraser fir) across the Southern Appalachian Mountains.
In 2014 Camcore received a grant from the USDA Forest Service Southern Region Forest Health Protection to conserve germplasm from remaining populations of both red spruce and Fraser fir. This two year project aims to collect material from 400 mother trees of red spruce from 20 populations. For Fraser fir our goal is to secure seed from 240 individual trees across the seven major populations of the species. While 2014 was a poor year for cone production we made progress with Fraser fir with the donation of seed from the North Carolina Christmas Tree Growers Association Cooperative Seed Orchard. Ultimately, all seed collected will be distributed among three seed repositories. The USDA National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, CO will received 500 seeds from each mother tree for long-term preservation. The remaining seed will be split evenly between the USDA Forest Service Ashe Seed Facility in Brooklyn, MS and the Camcore Seed Bank in Raleigh, NC and used to meet conservation objectives related to seed storage, seed orchard establishment, and reforestation project.
Near infrared technology used to distinguish among eucalypt clones
Camcore has used near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a cost efficient way to quantify differences in chemical properties in wood and to verify hybridity in pines. One of the current projects underway is to determine if NIRS can be used to distinguish eucalypt clones in the nursery. Often times in commercial tree nurseries, 3-10 clones are propagated operationally for field planting. This might include thousands of copies of one clone in a number of nursery beds. To maximize matching the right clone to the right site, nursery managers must ensure that clones are correctly labeled in the nursery prior to field planting. NIRS might offer a way to confirm clonal identity. Camcore and CSIRO (Australia) are working together with a hand-held and desktop NIRS to determine if the devices can distinguish among clones. The hand-held device scans green leaves of a clone and these spectral signatures are compared to other clones. Results from the hand-held device are then compared to dried leaf samples on a table top NIRS, which has a broader wavelength capability. If using a hand-held device to distinguish individual clones in the nursery is feasible, it will offer important technology to confirm that the right clone is being planted where it should be in the field.
Measuring growth rhythms in Pinus maximinoi
P. maximinoi is one of the fastest growing species in our portfolio of pines. In Africa, we have established test plantings of the species from approximately 4°S to 34°S latitude. This project attempts to determine if P. maximinoiever sets a resting bud in the various locations that it is planted. Knowing something about the growth rhythms of this species might help us explain trends in its productivity versus other pines. Seven members have placed dendrometer bands around young P. maximinoi trees and a control species to monitor bi-monthly circumference increment and shoot elongation. The study will last one-year to exam the correlation between circumference growth and shoot elongation patterns.
Gene Conservation of Atlantic White Cedar in the Eastern United States
Atlantic white-cedar (AWC,Chamaecyparis thyoides) is a cypress species (family Cupressaceae) endemic to the fresh water swamps and bogs of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Prior to European settlement, there were an estimated 202,000 ha of AWC swamps and wetlands in the eastern United States, but today only about 40,000 ha remain, restricted to a relatively small number of small dense stands. AWC swamps are of ecological significance, particularly with respect to their role in hydrological processes. AWC swamps stabilize stream flows, store flood waters, help to mitigate the effects of drought, and filter and purify water as it flows through them. They are also home to a great diversity of plant, mammal, amphibian, and bird species, many of them rare and/or threatened and some that are obligates to AWC habitats. With growing public awareness of the importance of these unique wetland ecosystems, efforts to regenerate or restore AWC swamps have increased in the last 20 years. Given the decline of AWC, its patchiness across the range, its exacting site requirements, and its ecological and economic importance, the species is a good candidate for seed collection and genetic resource conservation efforts. Camcore began working on an AWC gene conservation project with funding from associated member USDA Forest Service in 2011. This three year project will sample seed from a total of 400 mother trees across 40 remnant populations. Seed collections will be made from 10 mother trees in 10 populations in each of four seed zones that have identified for the species using the FloraMap™ climate model.
Gene Conservation of Table Mountain Pine in the Southern Appalachian Mountains
Table Mountain Pine (TMP, Pinus pungens) is a Central and Southern Appalachian Mountain endemic that requires periodic wildfire to release seeds from highly serotinous seeds cones and prepare the soil for seed germination. Throughout the geographic range populations have declined significantly over the last several decades due to wildfire suppression programs and periodic outbreaks of the Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis). Today, fewer than 12,000 ha of TMP forest remain with trees mostly restricted to dry rocky ridgelines. In 2009, Camcore associate member USDA Forest Service provided funding for a 3 year project to conserve dwindling gene pools for the species and provide a source of germplasm for reforestation efforts. Seeds have been collected from 213 mother trees in 31 TMP populations. In total, more than 400,000 seeds were rescued with nearly half residing in cold storage for long-term preservation at seed repositories in Raleigh, NC (Camcore) and Fort Collins, CO (USDA-ARS-National Germplasm Repository). 200,000 seeds have been provided to the USDA Forest Service for the establishment of seed orchards and reforestation programs. In 2012, the USFS provided an additional year of funding to further sample regions in southwestern Virginia and Pennsylvania that are under-represented in the initial seed collection and to conducted studies on the population genetic structure and diversity and recent evolutionary history of TMP.