Bordács, S.

Cottrell, J.E.

Dam, B.C., van

Gebhardt, K.

Lefèvre, F.

Smulders, M.J.M.

Vanden Broeck, A.

Vornam, B.

English

Lefcvre [sic], F.

Cottrell, J.

Vanden Brock, A.

Name not available

Recommendations for riparian ecosystem management based on the general frame defined in EUFORGEN and results from EUROPOP

Dam, van, B.C.

NARCIS 

Wageningen Yield 

106
7 Recommendations for riparian ecosystem management based on
the general frame defined in EUFORGEN and results from
EUROPOP
F. Lefèvre, S. Bordács, J. Cottrell, K. Gebhardt, M.J.M. Smulders, A. Vanden Broeck,
B. Vornam and B.C. van Dam.
Introduction
Resolutions H1 and H2 from the Ministerial Conference of Helsinki (1993) led the
European countries to build up and implement a concerted program for the
preservation of forest genetic resources in Europe, EUFORGEN, aiming at the co-
ordination and harmonisation of national activities (Turok et al. 19981). One of the
recent tasks of the Populus nigra Network, within EUFORGEN, was to initiate in situ
conservation for this species. The challenge, in that case, is to monitor the genetic
resources of a pioneer species in a dynamic ecosystem. A technical bulletin is
published by this group to set up a general frame for in situ conservation activities
(Lefèvre et al. 2001). The following topics are addressed: types of conservation units,
the interaction between ecosystem’ dynamic and poplar biology, guidelines for
restoration projects, criteria and indicators to monitor the genetic diversity. In order to
go one step further, from this general frame to the implementation of conservation
activities, one expectation for the EUROPOP research project was to provide scientific
information on the processes of evolution of poplar genetic resources which could be
turned into practical recommendations. In these pages, we tried to initiate such a
procedure on the basis of the preliminary results that are available at that time.
As a general objective, the conservation of genetic resources should preserve the
potential for future adaptations of species and populations in the long term, allowing
for evolutions with special attention to changes in the environment, e.g. climate
change/global warming. From this general statement, three operational objectives can
be derived for in situ conservation strategy:
1. ensure optimal quantity of regeneration;
2. prevent loss of genetic diversity and loss of individuals’ fitness at
generation turn-over;
3. identify and preserve local or regional gene pools, if existing.
From our research on life history traits within the EUROPOP project, we were able to
draw conclusions about ongoing processes of evolution such as gene flow (seed &
pollen), mating system, clonal propagation, introgression. However, since our studies
were merely based on different kinds of genetic markers (isozymes, nuclear SSR,
cpDNA markers, and leaf morphology), no information is available on processes
related to local adaptation.
                                                            
1 see also the web pages www.mmm.fi/english/forestry/policy/minkonf/document_main.htm and
www.minconf-forests.net/Basic/FS-MCPFE-Resolution.html
107
On the basis of our results recommendations can be made for managers in charge of
the maintenance of the genetic diversity. Our approach has been to use the new results
to make recommendations to a range of questions which we pose from a conservation
and management perspective. These recommendations always refer to the three stated
objectives. Basic results are presented in detail in the various papers of this volume.
This paper is an attempt to turn scientific results into practical recommendations. It is
not supposed to be an exhaustive list of questions and recommendations either.
As a future work, there is a need to look at adaptive variation both across Europe and
at a much more local level so that we can make recommendations about transfer of
genepools in particular for restoration projects where the local resource is scarce:
should such transfer be avoided or promoted?
Question 1: Choice of conservation sites
The problem
In situ conservation is generally based on a network of conservation units. Many
questions relate to the number and geographic distribution of conservation units that
should be considered. Although we did not address specifically the topic of local
adaptation, our results can be used to give some answers.
EUROPOP results
- there is a significant genetic differentiation among populations within each country;
- even populations within a river-system may be differentiated one from each other;
- the amount of diversity is variable among populations;
- there is no accumulation of diversity downstream in the rivers;
- the amount of clonal redundancy is variable from one population to another.
Recommendations
1. the conservation units should be distributed over the range of the species, not only
at  the European level, but also within each country. The choice of locations can be
based on two criteria: ecological parameters (latitude, altitude, climate) as indicators
of possible local adaptations, and the map of cpDNA lineages as an indicator of
post-glacial re-colonisation routes from distinct gene pools. The second criteria is
purely prospective since we have no evidence that cpDNA lineages effectively
structure the iversity for adaptive traits, however, we can assume that some original
genes might be maintained in different lineages.
2. ideally more than 1 conservation site per river-system is needed. For example the
conservation units along the Rhine in Germany do not decrease the need for
conservation units along the Rhine in the Netherlands.
3. a preliminary estimate of the genetic diversity among adult trees in the candidate
populations is recommended: the objective is to have the maximum diversity and
the lowest number of clonal duplicates in the reproductive generation.
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Question 2: Gene flow from cultivated varieties
The problem
This is a complex problem and a more detailed synthesis is being prepared (Vanden
Broeck et al., in prep). We only refer here to the three initial objectives, from a
biological perspective. Two different processes are included here: (i) true introgression
of genes from different exotic species, mainly with P. deltoides and P. trichocarpa,
through gene flow with cultivated hybrid poplars, and (ii) gene flow with P. nigra with
cultivars such as ‘italica’ or ‘thevestina’.
From a biological point of view, gene flow from a diverse source has a balanced
impact with both positive and negative effects: it may increase the genetic diversity
(positive), it may alter local adaptation (negative). Individuals’ fitness may be affected
by such gene flow. The question then is about the mean fitness of the population after
natural selection. We refer in that case to objectives #2 and #3 that were initially
stated.
Another possible impact of intensive gene flow with cultivated varieties is a reduction
of effective population size leading to a loss of diversity and an increase of the level of
inbreeding (referring to objective #2). This may occur when, for example, a single
male variety (single clone locally?) pollinates intensively a majority of female trees.
EUROPOP results
- P. deltoides genes are sometimes detected at the seedling stage. There is a large
difference in introgression levels depending on the presence of competing P. nigra
males. Introgression is more frequent when the P. nigra female is an isolated tree.
- older introgressed individuals are rare over Europe
- P. trichocarpa genes can also introgress P. nigra
- P. nigra ‘italica’ cannot hybridise with the local resource in Northern Europe due to
non-synchrony of flowering, but it may do so in other regions. Gene flow from P.
nigra ‘thevestina’ could be detected.
Recommendations
1. ideally, conservation units should be more or less isolated from poplar plantations.
However, there is no need to have a total ban on all poplar plantations around the
conservation units provided the population size of the conservation unit is
sufficiently large. For restored populations, isolation can be achieved through a
“buffer zone” around the population made of local male and female trees.
2. there should be a strategy to monitor the amount of introgression in the
conservation unit so that levels of introgresion can be assessed in the current adult
trees compared with that occurring in the next generation when it reaches the
flowering age. When detected within the conservation unit, adult hybrids should be
removed.
3. the rate of introgression from P. trichocarpa should be further checked,
particularly in the regions where interamerican hybrids are present in large
numbers.
4. concern regarding the potential of P. nigra cultivars to act as super-pollinator
clones or super seed clones relates to local flowering phenology of such varieties
compared to the wild resource, and even there only when the number of local adult
trees is limited.
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Question 3: Population size
The problem
Population size should be large enough to avoid the effect of drift (random loss of
genetic variants due to stochastic processes) on the genetic diversity and on the level
of inbreeding. A small population will have a high degree of allele fixation in future
generations. Moreover, since poplar is an allogamous species for which an important
genetic load is expected, the impact of inbreeding on the mean fitness of the
population may be important (see objective #2). Therefore attention should be given
to the “inbreeding effective population size”: this is maximised when the largest
number of male and female trees mate in a balanced mating system. Gene flow is also
a factor that can enlarge population size.
EUROPOP results
- mating does not occur at random and a female tree preferentially mates with a
restricted number of males (this may be due to factors such as distance and
phenology, but may also be due to genetic factors)
- half-sib progenies from a single mother tree involve only few pollinators
- gene flow follow the model of isolation by distance
- effective gene flow differs from potential gene flow and seedling establishment is
probably a limiting factor
- gene flow is not uni-directional, which means that the main factor of dispersal for
pollen and seeds is the wind
Recommendations
1. attention should be given to the effective number of male and female trees which
effectively contribute to the next generation. For a given number of male trees,
probably some of them will be more successful for pollination leading to
unbalanced effective sex ratio; therefore an extra number of males can be needed.
From another point of view, the number and spatial distribution of female trees is
also critical since it also determines part of the mating success of each male tree.
2. conditions for seed-set (light) and seedling establishment (bare soil, water table)
should be optimised
3. restoration of populations should be practised using unrelated clones rather than
seed progenies. Especially “seed orchards” are not a good solution for that
particular species since they may magnify the effect of preferential mating,
especially when the number of genotypes is low.
4. to assist regeneration whenever needed, several scattered seedling patches are
probably more efficient than a single large one
5. small conservation units used as “bridges” between larger populations should be
less than 5 km apart so they can contribute significantly to the population size.
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Question 4: Choice of indicators for the monitoring of local evolution
The problem
Managers in charge of gene resource conservation should monitor the evolutionary
processes in the conservation network. The technical bulletin from EUFORGEN
proposed a set of indicators based on ecological observations (at the ecosystem level),
on demographic parameters (at the population level) and on genetic parameters (at the
individual level). Each indicator provides information about one or several processes.
Our results should help to identify the key processes that should be monitored.
EUROPOP results
- genetic drift effects were detected at local scale (within stand) from the
differentiation among cohorts. From the theory we suspect that it can affect the
fitness of the populations through an increase of the level of inbreeding.
Recommendations
1. particular attention must be paid to all practices that have an impact on the
flowering habit and the regeneration process, which determine the effective
population size.
2. the most relevant ecological and demographic indicators are: the hydroperiod
(which provides information about the dynamics of the ecosystem and therefore
the potential for regeneration, but maybe also the rate of clonal duplication), and
the structure of habitats (which is directly related to the demographic structure), the
number and distribution of male and female trees (which is directly related to
population size). Another demographic indicator would be the distribution of age
classes: in the older populations, each tree had more chance to effectively
contribute to the regeneration through time than in a recent population.
3. A possible genetic indicator would be the heterozygosity of the seedling generation,
using some of the markers that were developed during this project (which provides
information on drift, mating system and selection).
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References
Lefèvre, F., N. Barsoum, B. Heinze, D. Kajba, P. Rotach, S. de Vries, Turok, J. (2001)
Technical Bulletin on in situ Conservation of Populus nigra. International
Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy (in press).
Turok, J., C. Palmberg-Lerche, T. Skroppa, Ouédraogo, A.S. (1998) Conservation of
Forest Genetic Resources in Europe. In : Proceedings of the European Forest
Genetic Resources Workshop, 21 Nov. 1995, Sopron, Hungary. Rome : IPGRI,
60 p.


Recommendations for riparian ecosystem management based on the general frame defined in EUFORGEN and results from EUROPOP

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