Abstract

White Spruce (Picea glauca) like all other trees require favorable climatic conditions to be productive and healthy. Climate change is changing current favorable climatic conditions for many breeding regions in Alberta causing a northward movement of many tree species. Populations will adapt to environmental changes depending on their genetic traits and a variation in population-level adaptation strategies. However, some populations may not be able to migrate northward at the same rate as their ideal climatic envelope and will likely experience reduced productivity - eventually leading to mortality or even local extinction. There is therefore the need to move species population in reforestation programs towards the north where the climate is moving using a strategy called assisted migration.

The study assessed the growth response of ten White spruce seed populations planted in a multi-site location in nine regions in Alberta. All populations were planted at each of the nine genetic trial sites to evaluate the genetic adaptation of populations across the planting sites. The height measurements of trees across the multisite regions were recorded and analyzed. The results revealed that productivity is generally high when seed sources were planted in their local environment. However, some populations fared better when not planted in their locality. Overall, productivity was relatively lower in montane regions and higher in North-east Alberta. The next steps for this project include assessing how assisted migration affects climate change vulnerability of the provenances and regions to assess which provenances and regions performed best when transferred to warmer or colder locations.

Reference

Natural Resource Canada, non-dated, White spruce (nrcan.gc.ca)