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Activities and events

No upcoming meetings found for Unit 2.02.20.


Calendar of Meetings

Past IUFRO meetings

  • 7th IUFRO International Workshop on the Genetics of Tree-Parasite Interactions in Forestry Understanding forest tree-antagonistic interactions in a changing world; Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain; 12-17 September 2022. Units involved: 7.03.11, 2.02.15, 2.02.20, 7.02.05, 7.02.09. 1st Announcement - 2nd Announcement   
     
  • Forest Genetics for Productivity; Rotorua, New Zealand; 14–18 March 2016. IUFRO Units involved: 2.02.20, 2.02.05, 2.04.06. Conference homepage - 1st announcement - Scion news item - Report - Scientifc Summary 
     
  • Fifth International Workshop on the Genetics of Tree-Parasite Interactions; Orléans, France; 23-28 August 2015. Units involved: 2.02.15, 2.02.20, 7.02.05, 7.03.11. Conference homepage - Preliminary call - Flyer    
     
  • Breeding for Value in a Changing World; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; 4-7 February 2013. Conference homepage

Past activities

A joint IUFRO southern pines working group and Australasian Forest Genetics Conference, Breeding for Wood Quality, was held in Hobart in April 2007, nearly 100 scientists from 11 countries reported advances in breeding for improved plantations of radiata pine and other trees, in 55 presentations.

Considerable improvement has been achieved by breeding plantation trees for faster growth, straighter stems and finer branches. However, there has been much less improvement in density or other wood qualities even though CSIRO and others pioneered research on breeding for wood quality 50 years ago. Now, at last, there is rapid progress that will result in better wood from fast-growing plantations. Recent spectacular technological advances include fast and accurate assessment of large numbers of standing trees for wood quality.

Big advances were reported in genetic base of variation in wood quality traits, applications of quantitative genetics, and prospects for gene-assisted breeding using SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) for earlier and more accurate selection.  Conference papers will be published as a CD and in a special edition of the New Zealand Journal of Forestry Science.