Variability of needle structure in Siberian stone pine in provenance plantations

• Main Authors: O. Bender, T.I. Rudnik
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ‘Marin Drăcea’ National Research-Development Institute in Forestry 2013
• Subjects: siberian stone pine; needle structure; morphology; anatomical needle variability; Forestry; SD1-669.5; Arctic; Aldan; The Needle; Urengoy; taiga; ural mountains; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.15287/afr.2008.163; https://doaj.org/article/d5d564700f4e4a53a152fb1cbd4ec479

Siberian stone pine (Pinus sibirica Du Tour) is one of the most common trees in Siberia. Its natural range is from the Ural Mountains to the Aldan river and from the Arctic Circle to northern Mongolia. The climate in natural Siberian stone pine sites influences the whole plant organism, particularly its needle structure, and the response to this occurs at specific morphological and anatomical levels. The genotypical and environmental effects on needle structure in different Siberian stone pine ecotypes are very little known. One effective way to examine and to separate genotypical effects from environmental ones is by using a common garden experiment. The purpose is to analyze morphological and anatomical needle variability in Siberian stone pine marginal populations that have been grown in provenance plantations in southern West Siberia, Russia. The needle samples were collected in the provenance plantation located 30 km south of Tomsk (the southeastern West Siberian Plain, southern limit of the taiga zone, optimum site conditions for Siberian stone pine). We investigated the grafts of mother trees taken from natural sites. Four ecotypes were selected for the study. Three ecotypes originated from northern (Urengoy), western (Neviyansk), and eastern (Severobaikalsk) marginal populations. The fourth, the Tomsk ecotype, was a local control. The local Tomsk ecotype grows on a site where natural conditions are worse due to reduction of mean annual temperature and increase of the humid factor northward, humidity reduction eastward and its rise westward. Variability of 10 needle morphological and anatomical characteristics was studied. The northern ecotype had smaller needle length (28%), leaf cross-section area (21%), mesophyll area (29%), mesophyll cell size (27%), and conducting bundle area (16%) but the number of stomata per unit leaf area increased by 16% over the local Tomsk ecotype. The resin canal area, epidermal and hypodermal cell thickness, and stomata size were equal to both the northern and local ...