title: Early establishment response of different Pinus nigra ssp. salzmanii seed sources on contrasting environments: Implications for future reforestation programs and assisted population migration.
abstract: Forest restoration constitutes an important issue within adaptive environmental management for climate change at global scale. However, effective implementation of these programs can only be achieved by revising current seed transfer guidelines, as they lack inherent spatial and temporal dynamics associated with climate change. In this sense, provenance trials may provide key information on the relative performance of different populations and/or genotypes under changing ecological conditions. This study addresses a methodological approach to evaluate early plantation performance and the consequent phenotypic plasticity and the pattern of the adaptation of different seed sources in contrasting environments. To this end, six seed sources of Salzmann pine were tested at three contrasting trial sites testing a hypothetical assisted population migration. Adaptation at each site was assessed through Joint Regression and Additive Main effect and Multiplication Interaction (AMMI) models. Most of the observed variation was attributed to the environment (above 90% for all traits), even so genotype and genotype by environment interaction (GxE) were significant. Seedlings out-planted under better site conditions did not differ in survival but in height growth. However, on sites with higher constraints, survival differed among seed sources and diameter growth was high. The adaptation analyses (AMMI) indicated that the cold-continental seed source 'Soria' performed as a generalist seed source, whereas 'Cordilleras Béticas', the southernmost seed source, was more adapted to harsh environments (frost and drought) in terms of survival. The results supported partially the hypothesis that assisted migration of seed sources makes sense within limited transfer distances, and this was reinforced by the GxE results. The present study could be valuable to address adaptive transfer of seedings in ecological restoration and to determine the suitable seed sources for reforestation programs and assisted population migration under climatic changes. The reported results are based on 3 years' data and need to be considered in this context.
authors.affiliation: Research Group in Forest Science and Technology (Re-ForeST), Institute of Water and Environment Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, Cami de Vera, Valencia 46022, Spain; Faculty of Life and Natural Sciences, Ibn Khaldoun University, BP 78, Karman Campus, Tiaret 14000, Algeria; Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Universitat Politécnica de Valencia-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Avd. de los Naranjos s/n, Valencia 46022, Spain. Electronic address: khaledtaibi@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taïbi
authors.affiliation: Research Group in Forest Science and Technology (Re-ForeST), Institute of Water and Environment Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, Cami de Vera, Valencia 46022, Spain. Electronic address: ancamga@upv.es.
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Del Campo
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Recursos Genéticos Forestales de Alaquàs, Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, Joaquín Ballester, 39, Valencia 46009, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aguado
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Universitat Politécnica de Valencia-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Avd. de los Naranjos s/n, Valencia 46022, Spain.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mulet
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D057231:Climate Change; D055864:Droughts; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D019083:Mediterranean Region; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D028223:Pinus / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D036226:Seedlings / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D013030:Spain
keywords: Adaptation analysis; Adaptive silviculture; Genotype by environment interaction; Growth; Phenotypic plasticity; Survival