Russian Tree Breeding Centre CENTRLESSEM, Pushkino (Moscow), Russian Federation

Norway spruce is one of the most important forest trees in Russia. It covers 75 866 300 ha and its growing stock represents 10 089.9 million m³. For the European-Ural part and the Asian part, the figures are, respectively, 46 603 900 ha and 5836.9 million m³, and 29 262 400 and 4253.0 million m³. This includes western Siberia with 5 278 300 ha and 570.3 million m³, and eastern Siberia with 10 941 400 and 1445.8 million m³ of Norway spruce forest.

Substantial tree improvement work has been carried out, beginning with the selection of the valuable genepool from wild populations of Norway spruce by research and scientific institutes of the former USSR. Based on the selection of valuable provenances, populations, elite (plus) trees, distinguished with the outstanding characteristics of one or more economically valuable traits, a great number of provenance trials ('geographical and testing plantations'), clonal archives, seed orchards, progeny tests and other units were established.

In 1995, for instance, 5650 plus trees of Norway spruce, plus stands on a total area of 16 793 ha and seed orchards (1317.2 ha), were registered. Careful documentation and analysis of information about these objects is of great interest, and its value will increase with time.

The State policy for genetic resources conservation was formulated for the first time in 1982 and is known as "The Guideline for Selection and Conservation of Gene Pool of Forest Trees in the Forests of the USSR" (in Russian). This document laid the basis for later work aimed at the conservation of forest genetic resources in situ and ex situ, including the designation of forest genetic reserves (FGR), elite plus stands (stands with superior phenotypic performance), etc. The currently ongoing national activities on the conservation of genetic resources of Norway spruce concentrate on designating FGR, creating clonal archives, as well as some provenance and progeny trials.

There are different methods of conservation of genetic resources in situ and ex situ. The first category includes selection of FGR, plus stands and plus trees, nature reserves and preserves, and national parks. Ex situ conservation means creation of large gene reserve populations for breeding purposes, transfer of seeds from known sources, establishment of small multiple populations in different ecological conditions, managed and unmanaged, as part of long-term breeding programmes, clonal archives based on graftings or cuttings, and long-term storage of small lots of seeds and pollen.

The direction of the work may be classified according to the following system:

• saving endangered populations in clonal archives, FGR, unmanaged populations

• conserving marginal populations in the protected forest zones, in FGR and with the help of clonal archives

• conserving sources of breeding material in managed populations, clonal archives and gene reserve populations

• saving still unknown genetic variations in the protected forest zones, in FGR and in unmanaged populations

• assuring genetic adaptability in a changing environment in small multiple populations, FGR and in the protected forest territories

• saving reference populations for future research on FGR, in the protected forest lands and in gene reserve populations.

In all these items there are some elements of in situ and ex situ, which means that the work continues in an integrated manner, and not only in the species' natural distribution range but outside it too.

Saving genetic resources of Norway spruce in in situ conditions means creation of areas with a special protection regime, regulations on using the available genetic resources of Norway spruce and projects for their restoration in the natural habitats. Ex situ conservation is used for the individuals and 'biotypes' of Norway spruce with direct importance as sources of genetic material, foresees creation of seed and genebanks, information systems, regular observations and collecting of biological material from nature for various purposes. One such purpose is to reduce risks of extinction for ecosystems and populations, which are protected in situ. It is necessary to foresee the monitoring of protected FGR objects.

Conservation of autochthonous populations of Norway spruce, or the safeguarding of natural genepools, is a decisive factor for selecting and utilizing outstanding provenances and seed sources. But characteristic for Norway spruce forests in Russia is genetic erosion and undesirable hybridization with non-native genotypes, which take place, for example, in the introgression zone between Norway spruce (Picea abies) and Siberian spruce (Picea obovata). That is why the conservation of existing populations is an urgent task. Our approach is to organize a network of the conserved populations, maintaining high intra- and interpopulational genetic variation.

Norway spruce is a species with high economic and ecological importance and hence is exposed to strong stress factors due to human influence. Therefore, conserving representative samples of the natural populations with their current genepools is desirable from both ethic and utility points of view. Synthetic conservation and breeding populations form the basis for adaptation and genetic improvement in this species at the same time.

FGR, as the fundamental unit of in situ conservation of genetic resources of Norway spruce in the Russian Federation, demonstrates an example of the natural population, which, under certain circumstances, may be actively managed and sustainably used. For ensuring their long-term stability, it is desirable to maintain a differentiated stand structure with several age classes. Seeds may be collected for both research and commercial purposes. Harvesting of timber, even clear-cutting in 'block circles', is permissible. Natural regeneration of spruce is preferable as an alternative to broadleaved forest trees. If natural regeneration is sporadic, one can create a plantation, but obviously using the local seeds from the respective FGR.

The area of a FGR in forest and forest-tundra zones is to be 300-1000 ha (with the exception of sparse subarctic forests, where it may be >1000 ha). In the forest-steppe and steppe zones, the FGR area is to be 100-600 ha. It is possible to create one FGR if territorially distinct, small (5-30 ha) forest areas with a valuable Norway spruce genepool occur. For isolated, small stands FGR may be limited to 1-2 ha.

In mountain forests FGR are formed according to the altitudinal belt; here FGR may be situated within the borders of one height belt, or occupy simultaneously a number of height belts (as in the case of their fast change and compact territory). In lower mountain populations, the area of FGR is 100-500 ha, in middle and higher mountains 200-1000 ha (depending on the characteristics of seed productivity, stand composition, levels of isolation, etc.).

Genetic resources of Norway spruce are also protected in the form of nature reserves and preserves: from 1916 to 1995, 89 reserves and 29 national parks with areas of 29.4 and 6.4 million ha, respectively, were registered. But the genetic resources of spruce growing there are waiting for more detailed inventories.

The ex situ measures are desirable first of all for saving genetic resources of Norway spruce in regions with strong, unwanted geneflow by pollen. They may include creation of gene conservation units, which keep genetic resources outside the natural distribution of Norway spruce, and contain a set of populations adapted to local environmental conditions and exposed to various selection pressures. Clonal archives and special breeding populations are established mainly for breeding purposes, but they also contribute to gene conservation. The ex situ units are to be safely isolated from each other. Controlled crossings, grafting and rooting of cuttings are to be applied for their successful reproduction.

According to the status of 1 January 1996, in enterprises managed by the Federal Forest Service of Russia there were 1910 ha of seed orchards, made with 6072 clones of Norway spruce; 37.5 ha of 'mother plantations' (387 clones), 29.9 ha of clonal archives (672 clones), 7786.4 ha of seed production plantations and 191.1 ha of testing plantations with 1811 clones.

The objects of sustained seed production of Norway spruce, including plus trees and plus stands, seed orchards, including the 'mother plantations', and seed production plantations, are distributed in the regions: North, Northwest, Central, Volgo-Viatsky, Central-Tshernosiom, Powolzhsky, Uralsky, West Siberian and Pribaltic. In the Russian Federation in total there are 6822 plus trees and 1964 ha of plus stands.

A total area of 187 493.5 ha of FGR was registered on 1 January 1996 (all forest tree species). For spruce, the total area of FGR in Russia was 67 692.7 ha, or more than one-third of the entire area of FGR in the country. The highest number of them is located in the North (47 880.0 ha), Center (5512.0 ha), the Urals (5741.0 ha) and Volgo-Viatsky (1304.7 ha) regions of the Federation. Arkhangelsky, Vologodsky, Karelsky and Smolensky forestry departments bear most Norway spruce FGR (Table 1).

One serious constraint to safeguarding the genetic resources of Norway spruce is the current absence of mechanisms for compensations of losses and financial stimulations in support of new FGR. Detailed research into intraspecific variation and taxonomy of spruce is urgently needed. The available information about the gene fund of spruce is not being evaluated and is inaccessible for a wide circle of specialists. At the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s, an extensive experiment with creation of 'geographical plantations' (provenance trials) was realized in all forest zones of the country. This created units which have often not been completed or afterwards evaluated, and in some cases have even been abandoned. The information about these experiments is often practically absent, and its results are inadequate for determining the possibilities of the investments into the experimental base already created. For instance, according to a plan from 1973, spruce in Russia was represented in altogether 13 testing stations by a total area of experimental plantations of 181.7 ha. 

Table 1. Overview: Conservation of genetic resources by categories (1 January 1996)

Only 165.3 ha were established in reality. The area of these plantations varies from 1.2 to 28.2 ha, with the average number of provenances being 10-68. The areas of clonal archives and different other testing plantations of spruce are not systematically recorded. Urgent measures are needed to develop a computerized database on the experimental base with genetic resources of Norway spruce in the country.

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