Variation in response to declining photoperiod among families and stands of white spruce in southeastern Ontario
- 1 December 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Canadian Science Publishing in Canadian Journal of Forest Research
- Vol. 9 (4) , 443-448
- https://doi.org/10.1139/x79-072
Abstract
Newly germinated seedlings of 66 open-pollinated white spruce Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss families from 11 native stands in southeastern Ontario were investigated for responses to declining photoperiod under controlled environments. Amount of height increment (free growth) during a period of declining photoperiod was studied. Variation in duration of free growth was found mostly associated with the family-within-stand component. The stand effect was negligible and decreased as seedlings aged. Lack of stand differentiation suggests that white spruce stands in. southeastern Ontario may have originated from the same base population. High genetic variation at the family level may reflect an adaptive strategy to cope with the extremely variable local climate.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Evidence of Photoperiodic Ecotypes in TreesEcological Monographs, 1959