Integration of Conservation Strategies of Plant Genetic ... - Genres

Efficiency of different conservation methods in forestry for conservation and
utilization
J. KLEINSCHMIT 1
1. Introduction
Forests are the most natural part of our environment, but in industrialized countries drastically
influenced by mankind since long in the past and even more today.
The problems for conservation are very different in the tropical rainforests as compared to
temperate regions. This is true for differences in the knowledge of the species, the distribution
of the species in their natural range (e.g. as many as 180 tree species per 1.6 hectare in Malaysia),the
flower biology and the capacity of the seed to survive. At present the most logical
way to conserve species in the tropics is to conserve biotops. Only in very few cases a specific
conservation program seems to be feasible. But this is unimportant as compared to the
number of tree species occuring. In Malaysia e.g. 2800 tree species and 25.000 flowering
plant species are recorded. Germany - for comparison - has 35 indigenous tree species and
another 10 exotic species of interest. Therefore the following considerations are valid only
for temperate forest regions.
Forest trees are longliving organisms with a span of life up to more than some 1000 years
which can include quite important climatic differences. They face variable ecological
conditions during ontogenesis. They show up a higher degree of heterozygozity than all other
organisms as a response to this situation and comparatively little fine-grained adaptation
patterns. The natural range of trees is given often not restricted by their ecological
adaptability but by the competition of other tree species and by historical events. The
competition is however drastically influenced by silvicultural treatment.
There is increasing concern about the conservation of forest gene resources due to immission
damages and the influences of global warming. As well during the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992 as in the
Conferences of European Ministers for the protection of forests in Straßburg and Helsinki
(June 1993) this topic was of central interest. In Helsinki 37 European states participated and
another 14 observers were present (e.g. USA, Canada).
1
Author's address:
Lower Saxony Forest Research Institute
Dept. Forest Tree Breeding
34355 Escherode
Germany