See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318410457 The extent of historic translocation of Norway spruce forest reproductive material in Europe Article in Annals of Forest Science · September 2017 DOI: 10.1007/s13595-017-0644-z CITATIONS READS 15 154 3 authors, including: Simon Jansen Heino Konrad Université Libre de Bruxelles Federal Research and Training Centre for Forests, Natural Hazards and Landscape 4 PUBLICATIONS 49 CITATIONS 216 PUBLICATIONS 1,259 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: WaldFIT - Climate smart forests: provenance selection and planting methods (WF Project, Austria) View project LIFEGENMON View project All content following this page was uploaded by Heino Konrad on 06 June 2019. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Annals of Forest Science (2017)74:56 DOI 10.1007/s13595-017-0644-z REVIEW PAPER The extent of historic translocation of Norway spruce forest reproductive material in Europe Simon Jansen1 & Heino Konrad1 & Thomas Geburek1 Received: 14 September 2016 /Accepted: 9 May 2017 # INRA and Springer-Verlag France 2017 Abstract data are not available on a more detailed scale, historic records & Key message Norway spruce seed has been traded exten- provide crucial information about translocations. sively for at least three centuries throughout the natural & Aims Our aim is to provide the first pan-European review on distribution range in Europe and beyond. However, our Norway spruce translocations from the seventeenth until the knowledge about these transfers is limited. Historic data twentieth century. are essential tools to trace back human-mediated gene & Methods We analysed historic and recent literature compil- flow and for interpretation of recent genetic studies. ing information on the cultivation and transfer of Norway & Context Human-mediated gene flow can potentially have a spruce reproductive material. Historic records are compared major impact on the genetic composition of forest tree popu- with recent molecular studies. lations, yet our knowledge about seed sources used within the & Results Seed exchanges have profoundly altered the native current species’ range is still limited. Norway spruce is one of genetic population structure of Norway spruce. Especially, the most important coniferous species in European forestry, Central European seeds have been used throughout and be- and data drawing conclusions about the genetic composition yond the natural distribution area. Figures illustrating the his- of current populations are vital with regard to gene conserva- toric plantings in Europe are provided. tion and sustainable forest management. Because molecular & Conclusion Recent molecular data reveal persisting effects of past translocations. Historical records can be extremely useful for providing information about autochthony and thus Handling Editor: Bruno Fady guide gene conservation strategies and explain the perfor- Contribution of the co-authors Simon Jansen: writing the manuscript mance of extant populations. and running the data analysis. Heino Konrad: coordinating the research project, supervising and writing Keywords Picea abies . Afforestation . Historic seed the manuscript. transfer . Seed trade Thomas Geburek: supervising and writing the manuscript. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13595-017-0644-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 1 Introduction * Thomas Geburek Within the last decades, the protection and conservation of [email protected] nature and biodiversity has become an important issue on Simon Jansen the European political agenda. Forest ecosystems have been [email protected] identified as a major source of biodiversity (FAO 2014), and “ ” Heino Konrad the biocentric view recognizing naturalness of forests as an [email protected] intrinsic value has been strengthened (EEA 2014). As genetic diversity is a central part of biodiversity, factors impacting the 1 Department of Forest Genetics, Austrian Research Centre for Forests gene pool of European forest populations need to be scruti- (BFW), 1131 Vienna, Vienna, Austria nized (e.g. Geburek and Turok 2005; Graudal et al. 2014; 56 Page 2 of 17 Annals of Forest Science 74:56 (2017) Koskela and Lefèvre 2013; Koskela et al. 2007; Wickneswari economic risks (Bergmann 1965;Giertych2007;König et al. 2014). Throughout the last three centuries, European 2005; Konôpka and Šimak 1990). The translocation of forests experienced fundamental changes and the genetic Romanian provenances by 12° of latitude has been suggested, composition of most of today’s tree populations have been while a movement of Alpine provenances outside the Alps is strongly affected by man (EEA 2014). Starting in the eigh- generally not recommended (König 2005). Within teenth century, artificial regeneration with non-local seeds be- Scandinavia, a northward transfer should be limited to 3° lat- came common practice, including the transfer of conifers such itude (Bergmann 1965;Giertych2007). Provenances which as Norway spruce on a large scale (e.g. Endres 1905;Koskela thrive well under very different ecological conditions origi- et al. 2014; Schmidt-Vogt 1977; see also Table 1). Seeds from nate from the Eastern Carpathians, Bihor Mountains, and the Central Europe (Germany, Austria) became a particularly mountainous region extending from the Beskides and the Ore cherished commodity (e.g. Almäng 1996;Dering2008; Mountains to the foothills of the Harz (Budeanu et al. 2012; Lines 1987). König 2005;Matras2009). Norway spruce (Picea abies [L.] Karst.) is one of the most The objective of this study is to review historic records of important tree species in Central and Northern Europe, due to Norway spruce translocations. These findings are of special its high ecological plasticity and economic versatility importance, as genetic data tracking the original seed source (Schmidt-Vogt 1977). Its range is differentiated into three dis- are presently not available on a European scale. Historic re- tinct areas: (a) Alpine, (b) Hercyno-Carpathian and (c) Baltic- cords can help to identify translocation “hotspots” or areas Nordic region (Fig. 1). During the last three centuries, the comprising putative autochthonous populations, which is of distribution of Norway spruce has been significantly enlarged special interest for tree breeding or gene conservation (e.g. by cultivation (Schmidt-Vogt 1977; Spiecker 2003). Today, Rajora and Mosseler 2001; Spiecker 2000). The disclosure P. abies covers an area of approximately 30,000,000 ha in of FRM trading routes is vital for interpreting results from Europe; more than 20% of the current distribution is located recent molecular studies. Data about historic seed transfer outside its native range, primarily growing on former may also contribute to the understanding of intraspecific var- broadleaved forest sites at low altitude (Klimo et al. 2000). iation patterns, as proposed by Gomöry et al. (2012). The In some countries, such as Germany, France or Poland, the importance of the integration of historic aspects for assess- artificial range vastly exceeds the native occurrence (Jansson ment of forest genetic resources in Europe has also been point- et al. 2013). In the majority of cases, unknown seed sources ed out by several other authors (Laikre et al. 2006;Schoppa were used for these afforestations. Although this human- 2000;Ledig1992). mediated gene flow must have had a significant impact on Norway spruce populations, our knowledge about historic transfer is still very limited (e.g. Geburek 2005). 2 Methods The specific origin of spruce provenances at a given site cannot be identified by phenotypic characteristics, although An extensive literature survey was conducted comprising a the crown architecture (Geburek et al. 2008)orcolourofim- wide variety of historic and recent literatures, including jour- mature cones (Geburek et al. 2007) may provide clues about nal articles and grey literature, as well as the compilation of an elevational transfer. Molecular data (e.g. Tollesfrud et al. data about cultivations and the transfer of Norway spruce 2008) can serve as a valuable baseline to study the historic FRM. This survey was conducted in the scope of the EU- transfer of forest reproductive material (FRM); however, high- funded project FORGER (Towards the sustainable manage- resolution data are not available throughout the current distri- ment of forest genetic resources) between 2014 and 2016. We bution range of Norway spruce. examined web databases of academic journals, as well as li- Local adaptation of Norway spruce is mainly determined brary catalogues. Keywords (artificial regeneration, cultiva- by the growing period: early flushing and early growth cessa- tion, forestation, kiln, Norway spruce, seed production and tion are characteristics of northern or high-altitude prove- seed trade) in German, English, French, Czech, Polish and nances when translocated to lower altitude or southern sites Romanian databases were used to identify relevant articles. (Gomöry et al. 2012; Jansson et al. 2013). These provenances We tried to minimize the language bias in the survey by in- generally grow slowly in lower elevations or southern regions volving also local colleagues to identify relevant literature. (Giertych 2007), while a northward transfer or a movement to Advertisements