Technical guidelines for genetic conservation and use Oriental Fagus orientalis Fagus orientalis Fagus orientalis Gaye Kandemir1 and Zeki Kaya2 1 Forest and Tree Breeding Research Directorate, Ankara, 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

These Technical Guidelines are intended to assist those who cherish the valuable oriental beech gene pool and its inheritance, through conserving valuable sources or use in practical forestry. The focus is on conserving the genetic diversity of the species at the European scale. The recommendations provided in this module should be regarded as a commonly agreed basis to be complemented and further developed for local, national or regional conditions. The Guidelines are based on the available knowledge of the species and on widely accepted methods for the conservation of forest genetic resources.

Biology and ecology stem. The stem colour of orien- tal beech is a lighter grey than European beech. The of Oriental beech or eastern beech oriental beech are egg-shaped (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) belongs without any lobes or peaks and to the family . It is a de- have a short stalk. The leaves ciduous broad-leaved tree which are alternate, simple and whole, reaches height of 30-40 meters. or with a slightly crenate margin, In rare instances, up to 7-15 cm long and 5-9 cm wide, 50 meters in height can be with 8-13 veins on each side of found. Stem diameter can the (compared with 5-8 veins reach about 1 m at breast in F. sylvatica). The are long height. Height growth of and slender, 15-30 mm long and oriental beech at early 2-3 mm thick, but thicker (4- ages is slow. The maxi- 5 mm) where the buds include mum growth rate is usually buds. achieved at the age of 30- Oriental beech is a monoe- 40 years, but under shelter, cious species (having the fe- this could take longer, even male and male reproductive or- 60 years. If oriental beech ex- gans separated in different floral periences fast growth during the structures on the same ). early stages, then growth will The male hang as small end at about 100 years of age, catkins and the female flowers whilst for stands growing more are erect inflorescences that ap- slowly over the early stages, the pear at about the same time growth will continue until the age as the leaves begin to emerge of 160-200 years. in spring. Oriental beech is a In general, oriental beech has wind-pollinated species. Fruit a similar appearance to Europe- maturation occurs in October, an beech (). Both 5-6 months after pollination. The beech species are characterized endocarp is thick, smooth and by their smooth and silver-grey a shiny dark brown colour, hairy OrientalFagus beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis Orientalorientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beech FagusFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisorientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFaguFagus orientalis

inside the husk. Its colour light- ing beech trees. Phytophthora Distribution ens as the beechnut dries. The kills localized areas of the bark seeds are small triangular nuts and sapwood especially on 15-20 mm long and 7-10 mm the root flare and lower trunk. Oriental beech is indigenous to wide at the base; there are two Reddish-brown liquid issues the in the west, through nuts enclosed in a spiky cupule. from lesions, thus giving Anatolia (Asia Minor), to the Cau- The cupule differs from that of rise to the common name casus, northern and Crimea. European beech in having flat- “bleeding canker”. In the central-east and east re- tened, slightly leaf-like append- gion of the Rhodope Mountains ages at the base (slender, soft in Bulgaria and Greece, exten- spines in European beech). A sive hybridization zones are ob- good seed crop of oriental beech served between oriental and Eu- occurs about every 2-5 years. ropean . In Turkey, the Fresh seeds, which are non-en- species is distributed in Trachia dospermic, contain about 25- and in the south of Marmara Sea 30% water and cannot tolerate and throughout the Black Sea desiccation to a moisture level Regions where it is possible to of less than 10-12% at room find oriental beech both as pure temperature. For spring sowing, stands and mixed forests with seeds can be stored at 3˚C for conifers and other 5-6 months. However, seeds can broadleaves. There are also iso- be stored for 1.5-2 years at -5˚C lated natural populations of the with 12-17% moisture content. species north-east of the Medi- Oriental beech seeds have a dor- terranean Sea on the Amanos mancy mechanism. Therefore, to Mountains (Turkey). These popu- induce germination, seeds need lations are known as the most to be stratified for 9-14 weeks at southerly populations within the 3˚C. Seeds are rich in edible oil. If species’ distribution. In Iran, the seeds are dried and ground into distribution of the species is lim- a powder they can be used to ited to the southern coast of the make bread and cakes. Caspian Sea and it occurs as Phytophthora omnivora is mixed forest with Carbines in the main defective fun- the northern slopes of the Elburz gus of beech seedlings. Mountains. Oriental beech also Starting from the germi- occurs naturally in the Caucasus nation period, especial- Mountains in , Azerbai- ly at the appearance of jan, and Armenia. Oriental beech the cotyledons, the fungus is found between 200 m and starts to affect seedlings 2200 m above sea level. The dis- by causing first browning tribution patterns of the species and wilting, then death. in the south-eastern Balkans Beech bark disease and suggest that F. orientalis may bleeding canker, caused occur on drier and warmer sites by Phytophthora fungus, than F. sylvatica. are the principal diseases affect- OrientalFagus beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis Orientalorientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beech FagusFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisorientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFaguFagus orientalis

Importance and use Genetic knowledge and these characteristics should be taken into consideration during sampling of populations. The wood colour of oriental Molecular marker studies re- Oriental beech does not pro- beech ranges from reddish to vealed that the differentiation of duce suckers like some other white. Reddish-brown heart- F. orientalis and F. sylvatica as beech species. Mass propagation wood formation occurs when the separate species is a relatively by means of vegetative propaga- trees reach 80-100 years of age. recent event. The high number tion (cloning) is generally possible, Beech wood is classified as a of chloroplast types in the north- but it is not practiced due to medium density wood (0.66 g/ ern Turkish populations of ori- the high costs involved cm³). As a hardwood species, ental beech indicates a possi- since cuttings are gener- the wood is heavy, hard, ble glacial refuge in this area. ally difficult to root. Ge- strong and highly resistant The magnitude of genetic netic improvement of beech to shock. Thus, it is suitable variation among popula- has been limited to seed stand for steam bending. tions of oriental beech selection and seed collection Oriental beech wood is is considerably higher from them. A simple stand se- principally used for fuel, than that of European lection system is usually applied. but there are other uses beech. Also, adative trait related The system relies on stand qual- such as particleboard, studies indicated that there is ity characters such as average furniture, flooring veneer, a discontinuous pattern of vari- growth increment, good health, mining poles (props), ation due to adaptation to cer- good phenotypic appearance of railway tiles and paper. tain local conditions, such as most trees and a large number of elevation, aspect, soil pH value seed trees for designation. The and frequency of wet snowfalls. area of a seed stand should have However, a continuous variation a minimum core size of 10 ha. in other characters, as in the time Most selected seed stands of of leaf flushing, was reported. oriental beech in Turkey, includ- The results of studies dealing ing core and buffer zone, are with genetics of oriental beech greater than 100 ha unless this is reported the presence of high- restricted by natural stand sizes. er genetic diversity in oriental There are selected seed stands beech than in European beech. and gene conservation forests This suggests that oriental spe- of oriental beech. However, cur- cies may be the ancestral spe- rently none of the material from cies within the European beech the seed stands has been tested. complex. Also, no seed orchards exist. Beech bears both male and female flowers on the same indi- vidual and is a wind pollinated tree species. This characteristic and reduced spreading of the seeds produce distinct family structures within natural stands. Thus, further genetic studies covering the whole range of oriental beech are needed OrientalFagus beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis Orientalorientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beech FagusFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisorientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFaguFagus orientalis

Threats to forests, low quality of wood for Guidelines for genetic genetic diversity pulping and the paper indus- conservation and use try, as well as land clearing and A considerable part of oriental plantation of conifers (European Conservation of oriental beech beech forests, at least in Turkey, black pine and Scots pine) have genetic resources is carried out consist of trees originating from led to a fragmentation of the mainly by setting up seed stands stem sprouts due to anthropo- beech forests in the country. and gene conservation forests genic factors and improper sil- To reduce the effects of as part of in situ programmes. vicultural treatments in the past. threats on the genetic resources Seed collected from these ar- This affects the quality of oriental of oriental beech, seed stands eas can be used for reforesta- beech timber and the genetic and gene conservation tion following the seed transfer base of stands since regen- forests have been estab- zones. Furthermore, there are eration with seedlings, lished in many countries. other conservation programmes the products of genet- For instance in Turkey, there such as national parks and na- ic recombination, will are 28 seed stands, rep- ture conservation areas which provide a larger genetic resenting the natural harbour oriental beech stands base needed for adapta- range of the species that can be used as seed sourc- tion to existing or chang- and covering 3700 ha. es. There is no information con- ing environmental condi- There are also 23 gene cerning ex situ conservation of tions. Thus, regeneration conservation forests cov- oriental beech genetic resources. of oriental beech forests ering 3100 ha. Additionally, In reforestation programmes the in such places should be there are numerous national minimum requirement should be gradually replaced through parks and nature conservation that the origin of the reproductive seedlings rather than stem areas where oriental beech is material is known and its adap- sprouting. Due to the rareness of naturally found as mixed and tive characters should be ap- mast seed years and presence pure beech forests. These fig- propriate for the ecological con- of many diseases and predators ures suggest that conserva- ditions at the regeneration site. of seeds and seedlings, more tion activities for this species, For this purpose, the “Guidelines essential work on seed, seedling at least in Turkey, are ad- for oriental beech seed trans- and plantation physiology and equate to secure the genetic fer zones”, (Atalay, 1992) based nursery are needed. resources of oriental beech on climate, soil and bedrock Beech grows in sites favour- for future uses. characteristics could be used able for agriculture. Therefore, until new seed transfer guide- in the past, beech forests have lines are prepared. These been cleared for agriculture, guidelines were prepared for probably causing some ge- the natural range of oriental netic resources to have been beech in Turkey, but could lost. Dense vegetation cover be used as a reference by (like Rhododendron) and steep neighbouring countries. slopes cause problems for the A system for the con- natural regeneration of oriental trol of reproductive ma- beech. Although total beech for- terial should be applied ests cover about 1.7 million ha in and recommendations Turkey, the difficulties for natural for proper use of differ- regeneration of oriental beech ent reproductive mate- FagusOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFa

Distribution range of oriental beech

rial should be developed. The to proper silvicultural plans, to variation of threatened popula- Council Directive 1999/105/EC ensure the potential for successful tions that cannot be maintained on the marketing of forest repro- natural regeneration. The objec- at the original site, such as relic ductive material provides basic tive is to maintain the potential for populations. The objective will be definitions of current categories continuous future evolution of the to establish a new population that of reproductive material. In years population. It has been suggested maintains as much as possible of with abundant seed of oriental that gene conservation forests the original genetic variability and beech, seed lots should be har- should cover certain minimum ar- allows long-term adaptation to vested and stored in sufficient eas in order to maintain sufficient the local conditions at the plant- amounts, even though it is ex- amounts of genetic variability. An ing site. It can be established by pensive and difficult to maintain approximate estimate would be planting seedlings, but also by the viability of seeds in storage. 100 ha including core and buffer direct sowing. Stands of 10 ha are Seed stands alone may not zones. However, the area could generally recommended for this fulfil the actual requirements for be smaller to conserve locally purpose. the conservation of genetic re- adapted populations. Such for- sources of oriental beech, espe- ests may also contain other tree cially those populations located species if they are admixed with in extreme habitats and refuge oriental beech. areas. Therefore, there may be a The establishment of ex situ need for gene conservation for- conservation plantations of ori- ests to be set up from natural ental beech may be necessary stands and managed according in order to conserve the genetic FagusOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental orientalis beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisFagusOriental beechFagus orientalis orientalisOriental beechFagus orientalisOriental beechFa

This series of Technical Guide- Selected bibliography lines and distribution maps were produced by members of the EUFORGEN Networks. The Atalay, İ. 1992. The ecology of beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) forests and their regioning in terms of seed transfer. Forest Tree Seeds and Tree Breeding objective is to identify minimum Research Directorate, Ankara. 209 pp. requirements for long-term Papageorgiou, A. C., A. Vidalis, O. Gailing, I. Tsiripidis, S. Hatziskakis, S. genetic conservation in Europe, Boutsios, S. Galatsidas, and R. Finkeldey 2008. Genetic variation of beech in order to reduce the overall (Fagus sylvatica L.) in Rodopi (N.E. Greece). Eur. J. Forest Res. 127: 81-88. conservation cost and to improve Denk,T., G. Grimm, K. Stögerer, M. Langer, and V.Hemleben 2002. The evo- quality standards in each country. lutionary history of Fagus in western : Evidence from genes, mor- phology and the fossil record. Plant Syst. Evol. 232: 213-236. Gailing, O. and G. von Wuehlisch 2004. Nuclear markers (AFLPs) and chloro- plast microsatellites differ between Fagus sylvatica an F. orientalis. Silvae Genetica 53(3): 105-110. Citation: Kandemir G. and Z. Gömöry, D., L. Paule and J. Vysny 2007. Patterns of allozyme variation in western Kaya. 2009 EUFORGEN Techni- Eurasian Fagus. Botanical society of the Linnean Society 154: 165-174. cal Guidelines for genetic conser- Shanjani, P. S. and D. Gömöry 2004. Isozyme variability of Fagus orientalis vation and use of oriental beech Lipsky in beech populations. International Journal of Agriculture and Biol- (Fagus orientalis). Bioversity Inter- ogy 6(1): 116-125. national, Rome, Italy. 6 pages. Vettori, C., P. Donatella, L. Paule and R. Giannini 2004. Identification of the Fagus sylvatica L. and Fagus orientalis Lipsky species and intraspecific Drawings: Fagus orientalis, variability. Forest Genetics 11(3-4): 223-230. Giovanna Bernetti © Bioversity, 2009.

ISBN 978-92-9043-804-5

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