Wood quality trait associations with climate: Room for improvement in two northern commercial tree species?

Abstract

Climate driven tree mortality threatens the current performance and productivity of the temperate boreal forests. For economically important tree species, progeny trials provide an opportunity to assess variability in wood quality and growth traits and their associations with climatic stressors, such as water availability. Data from 3,152 34-year-old white spruce and lodgepole pine progeny, representing 120 half-sib families, were used to test the selective pressure of aridity on wood density and wood microfibril angle, two attributes that contribute to wood performance. Tree increment cores were further evaluated for correlations between time of transition out of juvenile wood production and the environment. Aridity at seed point of origin had minimal to no selective pressure on overall wood density or microfibril angle in the breeding populations represented in this study. Aridity at the progeny test sites had a greater effect on spruce wood density, however, similar effects on pine could not be assessed as sites were too climatically similar. Transition out of juvenile wood production was not found to be influenced by genetic differences across families in either species examined. These determinations are pivotal for breeding programs which seek to use heritable and economically important traits to select for adaptability in a changing climate.