Molecular biology and genetic diversity in tree populations. 1995. Mosseler, A.; Egger, K.N.; Carr, S.M. Pages 114-124 in P.J. Charest and L.C. Duchesne Recent progress in forest biotechnology in Canada. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Petawawa National Forestry Institute, Chalk River, Ontario, Information Report PI-X-120.
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Gene conservation is concerned primarily with the preservation of adaptively significant genetic variation. However, adaptively important genetic variation is often difficult to detect except through long-term genecological studies and is thus very expensive and time consuming to measure, particularly in long-lived organisms such as trees. Molecular genetic markers can provide a cost-effective and timely alternative to assaying and describing genetic diversity. Molecular markers can also provide important insights into the population genetic processes of most concern to gene conservation: levels of inbreeding, genetic drift, interpopulation gene flow, and changes in the mating system that may adversely impact genetic diversity in individuals, and within and among different populations. A wide range of molecular genetic techniques has recently become available for population genetic analyses for addressing gene conservation issues. To avoid preparing a chapter that would quickly become outdated as these newer techniques are developed and refined we have attempted to describe some of the population genetics questions that can be addressed with these techniques and only a brief description of some of the new techniques themselves.
Mosseler, A.
Egger, K.N.
Carr, S.M.
Genetics, Tree Improvement, and Biodiversity