Genetic Variation in Water-Use Efficiency (WUE) and Growth in Mature Longleaf Pine

The genetic and physiological quality of seedlings is a critical component for longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) restoration, because planting genetic material that is adapted to environmental stress is required for long-term restoration success. Planting trees that exhibit high water-use efficiency (WUE) is a practice that could maximize this species’ survival and growth in a changing climate. Our study evaluates genetic variation in WUE and growth, as well as WUE-growth relationships, a key step to determine potential for breeding and planting trees with high WUE. We measured carbon isotope discrimination (∆)—a proxy for WUE—in 106 longleaf pine increment cores extracted from trees belonging to nine full-sib families. Tree diameter and total tree height were also measured at ages 7, 17, 30 and 40 years. Each increment core was divided into segments corresponding to ages 7⁻17, 18⁻30 and 31⁻40, representing early, intermediate and mature growth of the trees. We identified significant genetic variation in DBH and WUE among families that merit further exploration for identifying trees that can potentially withstand drought stress. Mean family growth rates were not associated with mean family values for carbon isotope discrimination. Family variation in both diameter growth and WUE but no relationship between family values for these traits, suggests it is possible to improve longleaf pines in both diameter growth and WUE through appropriate breeding

Rheological Properties of Southern Pine Oleoresins

Despite the economic and ecologic importance of pine oleoresins, their rheology remains little explored. In this report we describe rheological properties of oleoresins produced by mature trees of four southern pines native to North America (loblolly, slash, longleaf, shortleaf). Results indicate that these oleoresins are structured fluids that exhibit viscoelastic behavior, but differ in flow behavior. Slash pine oleoresin exhibited Newtonian flow behavior while the oleoresin from the longleaf and shortleaf pines showed pseudoplastic behavior and the loblolly pine oleoresin showed Bingham fluid behavior with a yield stress of about 1.980 Pa. Temperature-dependent viscosities for the oleoresin samples studied were well described by the Arrhenius model, yielding flow activation energies ranging from 153.5 to 219.7 kJ/mol. The viscosity of the slash pine oleoresin sample was found to be less sensitive to temperature than that of the shortleaf or longleaf pine samples. The time-temperature superposition principle was successfully applied to pine oleoresins to show behavior over the temperature range of 25 - 65 °C typical for a thermorheologically simple system. Such behavior is consistent with the temperature dependent viscoelastic properties found for these complex fluids, and supports the effective use of rheological evaluations for describing physical properties of pine oleoresins