Phylogenetic analysis of Chosenia arbutifolia (Pall.) A. Skv. in Salicaceae using complete chloroplast genome sequence

As a unique and endangered species in the family Salicaceae, Chosenia arbutifolia (Pall.) A. Skv. has great potential for use in ornamental and industrial purposes. Despite its comprehensive importance, the phylogenetic position of C. arbutifolia within Salicaceae is still ambiguous. In the present study, the whole chloroplast genome of C. arbutifolia was sequenced and compared with the genome of other Salicaceae species. A phylogenetic tree was established based on the maximum-likelihood (ML) methods. The de novo assemblies generated 155684 bp in length for the completed cp genome of C. arbutifolia, including a large single-copy region of 84551 bp, a small single-copy region of 16217 bp, and two inverted repeat regions of 27458 bp each. In total, 130 genes were predicted, of which 85 protein-coding genes were annotated in at least one of the five reference databases. In the repeat analysis, 23 forward, 15 palindromic, one complement, one reverse long repeats, and 221 putative SSRs were identified. The results of genome comparison showed that the large single copy region (LSC) region was more divergent than the small single copy region (SSC) and inverted repeated (IR) regions, and a higher divergence occurred in non-coding regions than in coding regions. Significant contractions or expansions were also observed at the IR-LSC/SSC boundaries. Phylogenetic analysis of 20 Salicaceae species confirmed that C. arbutifolia is closely related to Salix species and may therefore be treated as a member of the genus Salix. The complete C. arbutifolia chloroplast genome will provide insight into the chloroplast architecture, function, and evolution of this species and provide additional resources for future research

Future forest fires as functions of climate change and attack time for central Bohemian region, Czech Republic

This paper presents a new analysis of how global warming may affect the size of forest fires through its effects on air temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed. The effects of attack time on the size of the final burned area were also determined simultaneously in the statistical analysis. Two nonlinear functions determining the size of fires in the Prague-East District of the Czech Republic were estimated, based on a set of explanatory variables including air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and attack time. The functions were determined by multiple regression analysis combined with logarithmic transformations. The effects of climate change scenarios on future forest fires were calculated using the estimated fire-size function. The results show that if global warming leads to increased air temperature, reduced humidity, and stronger winds, we can expect larger fires. According to climate change scenarios, an upturn in the size of fires is predicted over this century. While we can control the fire by reducing the attack time, the results also show that if firefighters can reach a fire more quickly, the size of the fire will be reduced. If forest management methods, infrastructure, and fire brigade capacity are not adapted to the new climate, larger areas can be expected to be destroyed by fire

Simulated annealing in feature selection approach for modeling aboveground carbon stock at the transition between Brazilian Savanna and Atlantic Forest biomes

Forest ecosystems are important in the carbon storage process. Thus, the objective was to investigate the effectiveness of the Simulated Annealing meta-heuristic analysis for selecting variables to maximize the accuracy of the aboveground carbon prediction at the tree level. We used data from uneven-aged forests located in the Rio Grande Basin - Minas Gerais, Brazil, where 227 trees had their carbon stock measured. The classic Spurr linear model, stepwise linear regression and pan-tropical coverage, Random Forest (RF), and the hybrid SARF method (Simulated Annealing and Random Forest) were used to estimate the carbon stock from the selection of variables for the different compartments of the tree (total, stem, branch, and leaf). The SARF consisted of the metaheuristic to select the variables to be used in the RF. These methods were evaluated by the root mean square error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R²), and residual graph. As a result, the pan-tropical equation demonstrated superior performance than the Spurr model due to its greater homogeneity of residues. The stepwise technique reduced the number of variables and the error of the estimates, mainly for the validation set. SARF showed better adjustments than RF, as it reduced in on average 99.2% of the number of variables and 9% of the error of estimates considering all compartments. In general, variables such as volume, basic wood density, canopy projection area, diameter at 0%, diameter at breast height, height, and latitude contributed strongly to the carbon independent of the tree compartment. Among the methods, SARF is an alternative to the traditional method, as it can extract accurate information from a large data set

Genetic variability and predicted gain in progeny tests of native Atlantic Forest timber species: Cariniana legalis, Cordia trichotoma, and Zeyheria tuberculosa

Over the years, the Atlantic Forest has been one of the biomes most affected by fragmentation and despite the scarcity of studies related to their genetic and breeding aspects, native Atlantic Forest species can provide various high-quality timber products. In this context, the objectives of this work were to estimate genetic parameters and predict genetic gain with selection of provenance/progeny tests of Cordia trichotoma, Zeyheria tuberculosa, and Cariniana legalis, for diameter at breast height (DBH) and survival rate. Seed trees from different provenances were selected and measured, and their seeds were collected and tested in the areas of Porto Seguro - Bahia state, Brazil. All test individuals were evaluated for DBH (cm) survival rate (%) and stem straightness. The variance components and genetic parameters were estimated for DBH and survival rate. The narrow-sense individual heritability (h2i) for DBH of the three species ranged from 0.26 to 0.72, showing moderate to high genetic control. However, based on the likelihood ratio test (LRT) there is no genetic variability among genotypes of Z. tuberculosa. For survival rate, high genetic control (0.54) was observed only for C. trichotoma, while for C. legalis and Z. tuberculosa h2i value was 0.11 and 0.0, respectively. After genetic parameter analyses, the expected genetic gains were estimated for seed trees, potential genitors and potential clones. For seed trees, gains based on the additive genetic values (u+a) for DBH by selecting the top 10 individuals of each species per family ranged between 17.17 and 30.31%. In the case of potential genitors, by selecting the top ten individuals based on u + a value, are expected gains between 19.17 and 49.65%. The ranking of the top ten potential clones based on genotypic values (u +g) for each species showed gains between 32.43 and 56.53%. Conducting genetic breeding for C. trichotoma and C. legalis presents high potential of genetic gains and efforts should be taken into account for supporting breeding strategies for those species. In the case of Z. tuberculosa, the absence of genetic variability seems to be a result of the Atlantic Forest deforestation and genetic basis narrowing

Molecular and quantitative genetic analysis of the neotropical tree Campomanesia xanthocarpa (Mart.) O. Berg.

Campomanesia xanthocarpa is a fruit tree species of the Myrtaceae family with potential for fruit commercialization; however, studies on the genetic diversity and variability of the species are necessary to make it commercially viable. The objective of this study was to characterize the diversity and intrapopulation spatial genetic structure (SGS) of a C. xanthocarpa population and compare the genetic parameters of quantitative traits between and within open-pollinated progenies. For the analysis of genetic diversity, 80 individuals from a population in the Irati National Forest, Parana, Brazil, were analyzed. The observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosity, fixation index (F), and intrapopulation spatial genetic structure (SGS) were assessed. To analyze the quantitative traits, a field progeny test was installed using a randomized block design with nine progenies, three blocks, and four plants per plot at a spacing of 9 m². Total height (H), basal diameter (dbase), crown length and diameter (Ccrown and dcrown) at two years and nine months of age were measured. For the studied population, Ho and He had an average of 0.478 and 0.717, respectively, with an average fixation index of 0.333, suggesting that the population may be suffering from inbreeding. We found linkage disequilibrium for one evaluated pair of loci. SGS suggested a minimum distance of 25 to 50 m between mother trees for seed collection. For the quantitative genetic analyses, we found that average heritability ranged of 0.15 to 0.55 being considered from moderate (dbase) to high (H, Ccrown and dcrown). The traits H and dcrown were particularly noteworthy and can be used to obtain superior genotypes for the other traits (dbase and Ccrown), since the correlation was significant and high (> 0.80). The results provide applicable information for the implementation of breeding and conservation programs for the species.

Influence of spectral quality on the rooting of Corymbia and Eucalyptus spp. minicuttings

Above-ground biomass estimation in a Mediterranean sparse coppice oak forest using Sentinel-2 data