Climate based seed transfer, etc..

1. DOCTORAL SEMINAR – I
(AF- 691)
Uday Kumar Lodh
F-2019-05-D
Department of Silviculture and Agroforestry 1

2. Climate change adaptations in forestry
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3. Outline...
• Introduction
• Climate change and its impact
• What options do we have?
• Adaptation approaches
• Case studies
• Conclusion
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4. What causes Climate change ??...
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5. 5
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6. So Anthropogenic !!!!
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7. Effects of climate change: a changing
world …..
• Increased global temperature
• Erratic precipitation
• Sea level rising
• Increased storms and fires
• Melting North pole
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9. Highlights of the report
• This is first ever attempt to document and assess climate change in
different parts of India.
• Average temperature has risen by around 0.7°C during 1901–2018.
• Summer monsoon rainfall has declined by 6%, over India between
1951-2015.
• Frequency of localized heavy rain and dry spells has significantly
increased.
• Area affected by drought has also increased.
• Flooding events have increased since 1950.
• Sea-level has rise in the North Indian Ocean at a rate of 1.06–1.75
mm per year during 1874–2004 and has accelerated to 3.3 mm per
year between 1993 and 2017.
• Frequency of very severe cyclonic storms (VSCSs) during the post-
monsoon season has increased.
• The Hindukush Himalayas (HKH) (largest area of permanent ice
cover outside the North and South Poles, also known as the ‘Third
Pole’) experienced a declining trend in snowfall and also retreat of
glaciers in recent decades.
Ministry of Earth Sciences, 2020
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10. Climate change impacts…….
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USDA
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11. 11
Allen et al., 2010
What happens to the forests…..???
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Altitudinal range shifts
Species mismatch
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13. What should we do…..???
Mitigation
Adaptation
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Can we avoid climate change?
No
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14. Mitigation & adaptation
• Mitigation addresses the causes of climate change
(accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere)
• Adaptation addresses the impacts of climate change
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19. Adaptation
Strengthening adaptive capacity of trees and forests
• Sustainable forest management
• Forest health and vitality
• Integrated fire management
• Adaptive management practices
• Selection and Breeding
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20. Swanton , 201220
‘Adaptation for forests’ or strengthening the
capacity of forests to deal with climate change
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21. Case Studies….
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22. Suitability of close-to-nature silviculture
for adapting temperate European forests
to climate change
• Main aim was to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of silvicultural systems as tools
for adapting forests to the challenges posed
by climate change.
They
• examined the principles proposed for climate-
adapted forest management
• examined to what degree these principles and
practices are already applied in a specific type of
silviculture, i.e. close-to-nature silviculture (CNS).
Brang et al ., 2014
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23. Close to Nature Silviculture (CNS)
 Forests as
ecosystems and
manages them as
such
 Reduced human
intervention that is
directed to
accelerate the
processes that
nature would do by
itself….more slowly.
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24. Brang et al ., 201424
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25. Conclusion
 No single CNS type is an optimal
adaptation strategy in all respects
 Testing all silvicultural systems
against the six adaptation principles
described here to know their
suitability
Brang et al ., 201425
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26. Increased drought reduces acorn
production in Quercus ilex coppices:
thinning mitigates this effect but
only in the short term
 Study area : Catalonia , Spain
 Assessed the effects of increased
drought on the reproductive attributes
of Quercus ilex over a 4-year period
(2005 – 2008) and also the impact of
thinning
Humanes and Espelta , 2011
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27. Experimental treatments. Picture of the experimental plots, showing the
four combinations of the applied treatments: ( a) no thinning and natural
drought, ( b) no thinning and increased drought, ( c) thinning and
natural drought and ( d) thinning and increased drought.
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28. Fig : Fruiting trees and number of acorns in thinned versus no thinned
plots. (A) Mean ± SE proportion of fruiting trees ( N = 48) and (B)
number of mature acorns produced per tree ( N = 244) in thinned and
no thinned plots during the 4 years experiment. Different letters
indicate signifi cant differences among the two thinning levels per year
according to the least squares means test.
Humanes and Espelta , 2011
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29. Fig: Fruiting trees and number of acorns in natural - versus
increased - drought plots. (A) Mean ± SE proportion of fruiting
trees ( N = 48) and (B) number of acorns produced per tree ( N =
244) in plots subjected to natural or increased drought during
the 4 years experiment. Different letters indicate signifi cant
differences among the two drought levels per year according to
the least squares means test. Humanes and Espelta , 2011
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30. Conclusion…
 Thinning to remove the weakest stems per
stump had a positive effect on the
reproductive ability of Q. ilex trees.
 The effect of thinning on reproduction
mostly disappeared only 1 – 2 years after
the treatment was applied.
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Humanes and Espelta , 2011
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31. Selective breeding of lodgepole pine increases
growth and maintains climatic adaptation
 Study area: University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, canada.
 105 natural stand and 20 selectively bred Lodgepole
pine seedlots from Alberta and British Columbia
grown in a common garden of 2200 seedlings. The
experiments were maintained and measured over
three
 growing seasons.
Wang et al., 2017
Alberta (AB)British Columbia (BC)
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32. Climate-Based Seed Transfer (CBST)
 CBST is a science-based methodology and framework that uses
climate variables to match seed sources (seedlots) to climatically
suitable planting sites.
 Assisted migration is the practice of helping a plant move to a
different place.
 Within the context of CBST, assisted migration is the deliberate
movement of tree species and seeds/seedlings to planting sites
that will be most suited to them in predicted future climates. The
goal of this strategy is to maintain the adaptability (resilience),
health and productivity of planted forests in a changing climate,
given the expectation that local climate on some sites is
currently, or may, in the near future become, poorly suited to
local seed.
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Wang et al., 2017
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Wang et al., 2017
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34. A total of 2176 seedlings (natural n = 976; selected n =
1200)were established. The common garden was split
into 12 blocks, with seeds sown in a randomised block
.Each block contained 240 seedlings. Each selectively
bred seedlot was represented by 60 seedlings while
natural seed lot was a minimum of 60 and maximum of
112 natural seedlings
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Wang et al., 2017
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35. Conclusion
Selection, breeding and progeny testing
combined have produced taller Lodgepole pine
seedlings…Selective breeding produces
genotypes that achieve increased height
growth and maintain climate adaptation
Breeding Zone
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Wang et al., 2017
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36. Conclusion….
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•Forests are adapting to the human induced
climate change but the rate of adaptation is
slower than the pace at which climate is
changing.
Adaptations
in forestry
Adapting
the
silvicultural
practices
Selecting
right
species for
right place
Emphasis on
mixed
plantations
rather than
monoculture
Selection
and
breeding
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37. Change is the only constant thing in Nature, so
we need to follow different adaptation
strategies to decelerate climate change.
37Thank you….

38. Sources:
 www.Climate.nasa.gov.in
 www.FAO.com
 www.CIFOR.com
 www.Elsevier.com
 National geographic site
 Ministry of earth sciences
 United states department of
agriculture(www.usda.com)
 MoEF & CC, India
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