TY - JOUR
T1 - Provenance variation in germination and seedling growth of Abies guatemalensis Rehder
AU - Strandby Andersen, U.
AU - Prado Córdova, J. P.
AU - Bräuner Nielsen, U.
AU - Kollmann, J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are greatly indebted to the Municipality of Totonicapán for allowing us to use part of their nursery site and for providing us with valuable local knowledge about establishment and management of small-scale nurseries. We would also like to thank the agronomy student at Universidad San Carlos, Pedro Chacón, who contributed with assistance to nursery establishment and monitoring. We greatly recognize the support provided by the director general, Richard Rotter, at the nursery ‘Pilones de Antigua’ and the valuable assistance from his staff. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge the wide-ranging help from forest engineer Mario Martín Velásquez Villatoro. The research on which this study is based has been funded by the Danish Research Council for Development Research (No. 91160) and by a PhD grant to USA by the University of Copenhagen.
PY - 2008/4/5
Y1 - 2008/4/5
N2 - The Guatemalan fir, Abies guatemalensis (Rehder), is an endangered conifer from Central America listed within CITES. Illegal harvest of branches from natural forests for Christmas tree production is one of the main threats, and thus plantations are recommended as suitable conservation strategy. Currently, plantation trees suffer from insufficient quality which could be improved by selecting more suitable provenances. This paper analyses differences among nine seed provenances of A. guatemalensis for a set of traits important for seedling production; source populations were selected from montane natural forests at 2600-3400 m a.s.l. The provenances were evaluated during the first year of establishment in one nursery and two common gardens within the natural altitudinal range at the centre of the distribution range in Guatemala. Time-to-germination, germination percentage, seedling survival, height, flushing and number of secondary branches were examined. There were significant differences among provenances for all traits. Two provenances showed superior germination and growth characteristics; one had the highest germination percentage and the densest distribution of secondary branches, and the other produced tallest seedlings. In contrast, all provenances from the edge of the distribution range in Guatemala had delayed time-to-germination, and reduced germination and growth. The results indicate considerable variation among provenances for germination and seedling characteristics. The traits investigated in this study should be included for appropriate provenance selection to improve seedling quality for Christmas tree plantations. We recommend a number of contrasting seed sources to maintain conservation interest in various natural forests for seed production.
AB - The Guatemalan fir, Abies guatemalensis (Rehder), is an endangered conifer from Central America listed within CITES. Illegal harvest of branches from natural forests for Christmas tree production is one of the main threats, and thus plantations are recommended as suitable conservation strategy. Currently, plantation trees suffer from insufficient quality which could be improved by selecting more suitable provenances. This paper analyses differences among nine seed provenances of A. guatemalensis for a set of traits important for seedling production; source populations were selected from montane natural forests at 2600-3400 m a.s.l. The provenances were evaluated during the first year of establishment in one nursery and two common gardens within the natural altitudinal range at the centre of the distribution range in Guatemala. Time-to-germination, germination percentage, seedling survival, height, flushing and number of secondary branches were examined. There were significant differences among provenances for all traits. Two provenances showed superior germination and growth characteristics; one had the highest germination percentage and the densest distribution of secondary branches, and the other produced tallest seedlings. In contrast, all provenances from the edge of the distribution range in Guatemala had delayed time-to-germination, and reduced germination and growth. The results indicate considerable variation among provenances for germination and seedling characteristics. The traits investigated in this study should be included for appropriate provenance selection to improve seedling quality for Christmas tree plantations. We recommend a number of contrasting seed sources to maintain conservation interest in various natural forests for seed production.
KW - Abies guatemalensis
KW - Christmas tree
KW - Flushing
KW - Germination
KW - Guatemala
KW - Seedling growth
KW - Survival
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=39749137452&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.foreco.2007.12.009
DO - 10.1016/j.foreco.2007.12.009
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:39749137452
SN - 0378-1127
VL - 255
SP - 1831
EP - 1840
JO - Forest Ecology and Management
JF - Forest Ecology and Management
IS - 5-6
ER -