Genetic consequences of in situ and ex situ conservation of forest trees

Abstract

Although natural forest populations have maintained high level of genetic diversity and exhibited low level of population differentiation, loss of genetic diversity would occur during the entire conservation process, from population establishment to management of breeding and production populations. Since forest trees are still at their earliest stage of domestication in Canada, loss of genetic diversity comes primarily from the initial sampling process. Being small and maintained in controlled environments, ex situ conserved populations would retain less genetic diversity than in situ conserved forest populations. While ex situ conservation is operationally convenient for the short-term gains in tree improvement, in situ conservation is essential for renewing the genetic diversity to meet the changing environments of an uncertain future. -from Authors