forest genetic resources training guide forest management does selective logging degrade the genetic...

Forest Genetic Resources Training Guide

Forest Management

Does selective logging degrade the genetic quality of succeeding generations through dysgenic selection?Jonathan Cornelius


La Mosquitia, Honduras


“Mahogany bush”

“Mahogany bush--a dark mass of vegetation appearing without prelude

on the savannas”


“The woods are coming to life again”


Regeneration assured?

•“…more than 40 per cent of the trees are infested with a termite, the Coptotermes crassus, which penetrates to the heart of the tree…as the government taxes the mahogany concessionaires twelve dollars for each cut tree…care is taken to allow the termite-infested trees to stand…so that a method of natural reforestation is thus ensured—not by man but in spite of him” (Von Hagen 1940)


Iquitos, Peruvian Amazon


Medicinal species, Iquitos


Fruit species


The aguaje palm (Mauritia flexuosa)


A major local industry


Harvesting aguaje


Mauritia flexuosa types


Dysgenic selection

• Dysgenic selection is selection that leads to an undesirable directional change in genetic quality over one or more generations


Claims of dysgenic selection and variation patterns

“...another noteworthy feature is the lack of distinct variation patterns in relation to latitude and longitude; this may be due to the fact that the natural forests around the Mediterranean have been disrupted by man and subject for centuries to dysgenic selection” (Palmberg 1975)


Claims of dysgenic selection and selective logging

“...in most areas this once famous tree now occurs as little more than a much-branched bush or small tree, a prime example of extreme genetic erosion due to past over exploitation of the best genotypes” (Pennington et al. 1981)


Claims of dysgenic selection and selective logging“...selective logging may promote dysgenic selection as a result of the continuous exploitation of large, superior individuals” (Lemes et al. 2007)


What is selective logging?


Within-species selective logging


Dysgenic selection: the mirror image of genetic improvement

Distribution of dbh in a commercial plantation of Vochysia guatemalensis (Sarapiquí, Costa Rica)

Paul Neate

I think this should be "10 cm dbh class" rather than "10 mm dbh class".


Positive phenotypic selection aiming at genetic improvement

best trees selected

Paul Neate

I think this should be "10 cm dbh class" rather than "10 mm dbh class".


Negative phenotypic selection, possibly leading to dysgenic selection

worst trees selected

Paul Neate

Paul Neate25/11/2013I think this should be "10 cm dbh class" rather than "10 mm dbh class".


There are no documented examples of dysgenic selection in forest trees

•Poor form and slow growth are common, but can be caused by many factors


The breeders’ equation

• …allows us to predict the effect of phenotypic selection, whether positive (improvement) or negative (dysgenic)

Response to selection (R) = selection differential (S) x heritability (h2)


The breeders’ equation: Response to selection (R) = selection differential (S) x heritability (h2)

• For example, if trees grown from improved seed grow 10% more quickly than those grown from unimproved seed, then the response to selection is 10%

Response to selection = the improvement or decline in performance for a given

characteristic from one generation to the next

Forest Genetic Resources Training GuideThe breeders’ equation: Response to selection (R) = selection differential (S) x heritability (h2)

• Selection differential is a within-generation measure of phenotypic superiority and will usually reflect environmental differences as well as genetic differences

Selection differential = the difference between the mean of the selected

individuals and the mean of the populationIf plus-tree mean dbh is 40 cm and

population mean dbh is 20 cm, then S = 20 cm



• The value of heritability varies from zero to one

Heritability = the degree to which the superiority measured in the selection

differential is passed on to the progeny of the selected individuals



R = Sh2

= 20 cm x 0.2= 4 cm


Mahogany logging in Brazil


Marajoara before logging


Marajoara before logging

Marajoara after logging

based on Grogan et al. 2008


“Mahogany bush”

“Mahogany bush--a dark mass of vegetation appearing without

prelude on the savannas”

forest genetic resources training guide forest management does selective logging degrade the genetic...

Documents

iquitos slide

honduras slide

genetic improvement

dysgenic selection palmberg

peruvian amazon slide

costa rica slide

jonathan cornelius slide

major local industry