Raiany Dias de Andrade Silva | ALES Graduate Seminar

Event details: A graduate exam seminar is a presentation of the student’s final research project for their degree.
This is an ALES PhD Final Exam Seminar by Raiany Dias de Andrade Silva. This seminar is open to the general public to attend.

PhD with Dr. Barbara Thomas.

Thesis Topic: Genetic variability and drought responses of young and mature aspen in Alberta

Abstract:

Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) is a dioecious clonal tree species with broad distribution in North America. In dioecious species, sexes are predicted to perform differently. Aspen reproduce sexually through seeds and asexually through root suckers, forming clonal stands. This thesis explored aspects of aspen sex, genetic diversity, and climate on seedlings and mature trees in a greenhouse experiment and in natural populations within the AW2 aspen tree improvement region. Aspen seedlings showed plasticity to drought independent of origin and sex. In mature aspen stands costs of reproduction may be manifested beyond the production of seeds, with differential allocation of energy in females and males also occurring in root and stem growth. Natural aspen stands exhibited greater diversity and complexity than found previously. In conclusion, the use of trees of different ploidies, sexes, and genotypes in improvement programs and aspens stands would allow for increased growth under varied environmental conditions.