Both sexes of the bark beetle Dendroctonus brevicomis convert the (+) and (-) enantiomers of the tree terpene alpha-pinene to the corresponding enantiomers of trans-verbenol at about equal rates. (-)-trans-Verbenol inhibited the response of females, but not of males, to a mixture of attractive pheromone components. Since the female initiates the attack on a pine tree, (-)-trans-verbenol may pla...

At the Wageningen Laboratory of Plant Breeding, a software package has been developed to query a simple structured database with variety pedigree data. The package, called Peditree, creates a tree-shaped representation of pedigree information and has several visualization and lookup options. Estimates of inbreeding coefficient within a pedigree or coefficients of coancestry among pedigrees can ...

Despite renewed interest in the biogeography and evolutionary history of Old World tree frogs (Rhacophoridae), this family still includes enigmatic frogs with ambiguous phylogenetic placement. During fieldwork in four northeastern states of India, we discovered several populations of tree hole breeding frogs with oophagous tadpoles. We used molecular data, consisting of two nuclear and three mi...

We compared the relationships of Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) behavior with habitat and landscape characteristics in isolated old-growth and residual redwood forest stands from 2 to 400 ha in Redwood National and State parks. In isolated stands we found both higher murrelet detection levels a nd what we consider breeding behavior in stands with higher overall tree crown cover and...

Conventional breeding requires long breeding cycles which limits selection intensity due to large tree sizes and high costs associated with assessing properties. In contrast very early selection offers a short cycle and assesses corewood which is the poorest wood in the tree. Young Pinus radiata trees were deliberately leant to produce separately opposite wood (OW) and compression wood (CW). Th...

Tree holes are produced due to environmental factors as well biotic pressure.  It is a unique habitat for insect breeding and survival. Water-filled tree-holes or their analogs natural microcosms because of relative simplicity in structure, small size, discrete boundaries, naturally replicated nature.  The present investigation was carried out with aim the ecology tree from different ...

Lstibůrek, Milan. Population response to positive assortative mating in forest tree breeding. (Under the direction of Dr. Timothy J. Mullin.) Positive assortative mating (PAM) may substantially enhance genetic variance in a breeding population (BP). This creates potential for additional genetic gains available through production populations (PP) to forest plantations. Open-nucleus strategies (N...