Abstract Detail

Ecology

Yu, Yue [1].

Using landscape genomics to delineate seed and breeding zones for lodgepole pine.

Seed and breeding zones are traditionally delineated based on local adaptation of phenotypic traits associated with climate variables, an approach requiring long-term field experiments. In this study, we applied a landscape genomics approach to delineate seed and breeding zones for lodgepole pine.
We used gradient forest (GF) model to select environment-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using three SNP datasets (full, neutral and candidate) and 20 climate variables for 1906 lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) individuals in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. The two GF models built with the full (28,954) and candidate (982) SNPs were compared.
The GF models identified winter-related climate as major climatic factors driving genomic patterns of lodgepole pine’s local adaptation. Based on the genomic gradients predicted by the full and candidate GF models, lodgepole pine distribution range in British Columbia and Alberta was delineated into six seed and breeding zones.
Our approach is a novel and effective alternative to traditional common-garden approaches for delineating seed and breeding zone and could be applied to tree species lacking data from provenance trials or common garden experiments.

1 - University of British Columbia, Faculty of Forestry, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada

Keywords:
Local adaptation
landscape genomics
breeding zone
Gradient Forest
lodgepole pine
seed zone.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Number: EC07004
Abstract ID:696
Candidate for Awards:None