A guided tour of the modern Swedish forestry breeding
Forest trees are one of the most important species on our planet. It not only provides natural habitats for many animals and enormous materials for our livelihoods but also being crucial for the ecosystem, offering watershed protection, preventing soil erosion and mitigate climate change by absorbing carbons. To make forestry trees continue to thrive, many genetics, mathematicians, ecologists, plant biologists, and even computer scientists have worked together for many years. With the integration of recent developments from these interdisciplinary fields, our ability to breed better trees is significantly improved.
In my daily research, we used a combination of DNA sequencing technology, UAV image analysis as well as statistical modeling to guide our breeding applications. In this outreach, I will review the past and present of forest tree breeding, introduce how technology has revolutionized the way we breed trees and end this presentation with a few promising developments on the horizon. I hope this talk would provide a snapshot of the modern forestry breeding that might be interesting to you.
Contact:
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
