View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE Evolutionary Applications provided by Depositum Evolutionary Applications ISSN 1752-4571 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Genetic consequences of selection cutting on sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) Noemie Graignic, Francine Tremblay and Yves Bergeron Institut de Recherche sur les Forets,^ UniversiteduQu ebec en Abitibi-Temiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada Keywords Abstract Acer saccharum, bottleneck, inbreeding coefficient, old-growth forest, selection Selection cutting is a treatment that emulates tree-by-tree replacement for forests cutting, sugar maple. with uneven-age structures. It creates small openings in large areas and often gen- erates a more homogenous forest structure (fewer large leaving trees and defec- Correspondence tive trees) that differs from old-growth forest. In this study, we evaluated whether Noemie Graignic, Institut de Recherche sur les this type of harvesting has an impact on genetic diversity of sugar maple (Acer Forets,^ UniversiteduQu ebec en Abitibi- saccharum Marshall). Genetic diversity among seedlings, saplings, and mature Temiscamingue, 445 Boul. de l’Universite, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada J9X 5E4. trees was compared between selection cut and old-growth forest stands in Tel.: +1 819 762 0971; Quebec, Canada. We found higher observed heterozygosity and a lower inbreed- fax: +1 819 797 4727; ing coefficient in mature trees than in younger regeneration cohorts of both for- e-mail:
[email protected] est types. We detected a recent bottleneck in all stands undergoing selection cutting. Other genetic indices of diversity (allelic richness, observed and expected Received: 3 February 2016 heterozygosity, and rare alleles) were similar between forest types.