Table Of ContentForestry Sciences
Volume 83
Serieseditors
ShriMohanJain
HelyHäggman
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://www.springer.com/series/5991
Rowland D. Burdon · William J. Libby
Alan G. Brown
Domestication of Radiata
Pine
RowlandD.Burdon AlanG.Brown
Scion–NewZealandForest Deakin,ACT
ResearchInstituteLtd Australia
Rotorua
WilliamJ.Libby
Orinda,California
USA
ISSN 0924-5480 ISSN 1875-1334 (electronic)
ForestrySciences
ISBN 978-3-319-65017-3 ISBN 978-3-319-65018-0 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-65018-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017955956
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To the late Dr Max Jacobs ISO whose
own pioneering work and leadership were
so influential in the genesis of genetic
improvement of radiata pine.
Preface
This is not just a story about radiata pine—it is also about people and institutions,
aspectsthathavetheirowninterestformany.Moreimportantly,however,wecon-
sider the interactions between these aspects and the science and technology of
domestication to be highly instructive. In the background, as a significant influ-
ence, have been shifts in prevailing economic ideology within the main countries
involved.
In1968,ProfessorDanielZoharyoftheHebrewUniversity,aneminentscholar
of the domestication of wheat and of the role of plant domestication in the devel-
opment of human societies, was visiting the Genetics Department in Berkeley.
There,inworkingwithoneofus(WJL),heexpressedenvyofhowthosewhostu-
died forest trees in western North America were in a position to witness and track
the process of domestication from its very beginning, instead of having to rely on
fragmentaryarchaeologicalrecords.
In 1971, WJL spent a sabbatical year at the New Zealand Forest Research
Institute (FRI) with Ib Thulin, RDB and others in FRI’s Genetics and Tree
Improvement(GTI)section.ThisgreatlyintensifiedWJL’sinterestinradiatapine,
and he began to think about the radiata pine breeding being done in Australia and
New Zealand in relation to its early domestication. During a mid-1971 tour of
such work in Australia, guided by Ken Eldridge, he drafted his paper
Domestication Strategies for Forest Trees (Libby 1973). Later that year, Thulin
and WJL began to gather data for a paper on radiata pine, for the Genetics of …
series promptedbythe InternationalUnionof Forestry Research Organisationsfor
manyimportantforesttreespecies.
WJLreturnedtoBerkeleybutwasfocusedonarevisionofI.M.Lerner’sbook,
Heredity Evolution and Society, based in part on a course that he was by then
teaching. The work onthegeneticsof radiata pineprogressedslowly, andstopped
whenThulindied.ButWJLcontinuedtoworkonradiatapineasaresearchspecies,
andthisledtoperiodicreturnstoNewZealand.
During a 1991 visit to Rotorua and the FRI, the question of finishing Genetics
of Radiata Pine was raised, and soon led to a year’s return to Rotorua with the
GTIsectionofFRI.
vii
viii Preface
In the mid-1990s, several long careers (including our own) of geneticists, silvi-
culturists, breeders, plant propagators and others who engaged in the active
domesticationofradiata pinewere drawing to aclose. So,whilewe allstill could,
thisseemedagoodtimetojointlyreflectonwhatwehaddone,andwhy.
This also seemed a time when the process of radiata pine domestication was
passing through an important transition. The period from the mid-1950s to the
mid-1980s was focused mostly on classical tree improvement as founded by the
Scandinavian school, namely seed production by progeny-tested parents or
families in open-pollinated seed orchards (Zobel and Talbert 1984; Libby 1973).
As forest management increasingly responded to these better seedling trees, many
programmes demanded even greater genetic control, and began substituting
control-pollinated families or tested clones for orchard-run open-pollinated seeds.
Theseinturnallowedrevolutionarynewwaysofdoingplantationforestry,includ-
ing family forestry (Carson 1986) and full clonal forestry (Miller 1991; Ahuja
and Libby 1993). These also required better and different propagation systems
and, as greater genetic control of the propagules became available, these provide
opportunitiesfordifferentdeploymentoptions.Finally,suchchangesledtofurther
modifications in breeding strategies, in breeding plans, and in management of the
radiatapineresource.
Theamountofinformationavailableonradiatapine’sgeneticshadsoincreased
between 1971 and 1992 that the “paper” had grown to be a book, and more.
Amongotherthingsduring1992–1993,WJLwasmuchinfluencedbytheworkof
RDB on the performance of samples of radiata pine’s native populations in New
Zealand,andonthedevelopmentoflandracestherefromearlyintroductions.Ken
Eldridge had been doing similar work with the native populations in Australia,
andhadjustcompletedabookonthedomesticationofeucalypts.
During 1992–1993, the demand for radiata pine wood on the Pacific Rim grew
spectacularly, largely in response to the reduction in wood availability from wes-
tern North America. This generated broad interest in the properties and husbandry
of this promising new crop, and WJL attempted to develop the book to serve that
broad interest group, as well as to serve a technical readership interested in the
genetics and breeding of radiata pine. By 1994, when he again returned to New
Zealand,itwasclearthatwritingforthisdualreadershipwasdifficult.
InaseriesofmeetingsattheNewZealandFRIin1995,theideaofwritingtwo
books was proposed and then developed. This refocusing was greatly helped by
the insight that not only has FRI greatly contributed to the early domestication of
radiatapinethroughitsworkinbreeding,silvicultureandmanagementofthisspe-
cies, but also that radiata pine has played a large, even dominant, role in the crea-
tion and development of FRI. With the 50th anniversary of FRI approaching in
1997, it seemed appropriate to focus a general-audience book on this important
species. With the refocus in direction, it also seemed appropriate to include as
authors two of the major participants in both understanding and creating radiata
pine as a domesticated species, RDB from New Zealand and Ken Eldridge from
Australia. Ken, however, had to withdraw from that role, and this led to the parti-
cipationofAGBintheproject.
Preface ix
The original intent, to produce a radiata pine addition to the Genetics of series,
waseffectivelysatisfiedbytheproceedingsofaworkshopheldinNewZealandin
late 1997 (Burdon and Moore 1997). This Genetics of series has included treat-
ments of many important and interesting forest trees, each summarizing genetic
information available for its species. While these and many other forest tree spe-
cies were being passively modifiedin their native ranges by suchhuman activities
asselectiveharvesting(BurdonandLibby2006),by1997itwasclearthatamuch
shorter list was being purposefully domesticated and extensively planted to serve
humanpurposesandneeds.Radiatapineishighonthisshortlist.Thus,adifferent
bookfocusingonthedevelopment,progressandextentofsuchpurposefuldomes-
ticationofradiatapineseemedappropriate.
After 1991, WJL’s other commitments consumed almost all his time, so the
completion of the remainder of the project—this book—has taken far longer than
any envisaged, and fell to RDB. The delay in completion, however, has allowed
ustocoverfurthersignificantprogressindomestication,tocomplementtheearlier
narrative.
The countries that are most prominent in our story are New Zealand, Australia
andChile.
Wedonotclaimtohaveproducedacompleteorevenabalancedaccountofthe
story. Two of us have been heavily involved in the New Zealand part of it, which
hasdoubtlesscreatedabias.Indefence,wenotethat,exceptduringtheearlieryears,
New Zealand has been involved in more than its share of innovation. Reasons for
that are various, and include the greater national focus on a single tree species, the
pre-eminentroleofasingle,nationalforestservice,andseveralbiologicalfactors.
In Australia, the plantations and associated research and development were
widely dispersed institutionally, geographically and ecologically. Plantation develop-
ment was of particular interest in South Australia from the latter part of the
1800s and milling of the logs began in 1902; problems of nutrition and site man-
agement arose early and have been addressed with significant success. An early
start made on breeding has culminated in successful cooperative activity and in
internationally adopted instruments (notably “SilviScan” for evaluating wood
properties)andsoftware.
In Chile, a great deal has happened, but relatively little is covered in formal
publications, and still less in English. Moreover, Chile has tended to follow leads
from New Zealand and Australia—often to great effect—although it is now
involvedin“cutting-edge”innovations.
Other countries, while they include significant growers, have not had the mas-
sive commitment to radiata pine that is conducive to sustained, ground-breaking
researchandinnovation.Accordingly,ourtreatmentoftheirworkwiththispineis
often somewhat cursory and doubtless uneven. In general, our coverage of work
doneessentiallyinthefootstepsofNewZealandworkisdeliberatelylimited.
A lot of work was done, especially early on, addressing the use and properties
of radiata pine for pulp and paper products. Over the years, however, solid-wood
uses have become increasingly dominant, especially for the forest grower, so our
treatmentisperhapsbiasedagainstpulping.
x Preface
The central role of radiata pine in the development of industrial plantation for-
estry has provided the context for much research on forest operations, from land
clearing, site preparation, through to wood harvesting. The same is true of huge
advancesinmodelingandpredictionofgrowth,woodoutturnsandproductcharac-
teristics, which have been made available in decision-aid and planning software.
Such software, which has become increasingly proprietary, is also becoming pro-
gressively more readily adapted for use with other plantation forest species and
therefore less specific to radiata pine. Accordingly, we are not covering such
developmentsinanydetail.
Withliteraturereferenceswehave,asfaraswereasonablycould,triedtouseones
that are widely available, mainly journal articles or books or chapters therein. Also,
we have often cited works that serve either as examples or as syntheses of earlier
work, rather than attempting exhaustive literature reviews ourselves. We have also
stuck, as far as was practicable, withreferences that are in English. There are, how-
ever,exceptions.Inparticular,wehavereliedsignificantlyonbulletinspublishedby
the New Zealand FRI (now Scion), and leaflets and bulletins published by the
Australian counterpart. The bulletins include formal conference proceedings. A pre-
ference for citing FRI/Scion publications fits with the general online, open-access
availability,incontrasttothesituationwithpublicationsfromorganisationsthathave
suffered greater institutional changes. We have made minimal recourse to the “grey
literature” comprising less formal conference or workshop proceedings. Moreover,
someimportantmaterialrepresentsotherwiseundocumentedpersonalrecollections.
The structuring into chapters on the basis of historical periods became less
straightforward for the later periods. In defining the periods, we have given much
weight to developments in genetic improvement. Even so, there is the difficulty
thatcertaindevelopmentshaveoccurredatdifferenttimes amongthemaingrower
countries. Nevertheless, the defined periods are used as a basis for stocktaking of
the progress to date of domestication, which is done at the end of each chapter
from2to7.Despitetheimportanceofindividualsandinstitutionsinahistory,our
coverage of recent developments is more impersonal, in recognition of personal
andcommercialsensitivities.
Thisbookwasconceivedforavariedreadership.Thisincludedforestersinvar-
ious countries, plant breeders within and beyond the area of tree breeding, mem-
bers of the wider public with an interest in issues of sustainability, teachers in
high schools and universities, and students in a range of disciplines. In countries
extensively growingplantationsoramenityplantingsofradiatapine,itseemspos-
sible that curious citizens as well as visitors may like to learn why and how it
came to be so frequently planted. To help cater for a broad mix of readers, we
have signposted the book with a detailed breakdown into headings, supplemented
by the use of boxes in order to outline concepts underlying more specialized
technical topics. Nevertheless, itis plannedtosupplement thisbook with ashorter
one,aimedmoreatalayreadership.
Readers may wish to dip into specific chapters rather than reading this book in
its entirety. With this in mind, we have retained some overlaps between chapters,
ratherthanrelyingsimplyoncross-referencingbetweensections.
